Saint Grobian
by gorblimey2
Summary: 1st place-Fox Forum Ffic Award for best Epic Story. My favorite. A Paleontologist meets House while both are at seminars.Their relationship lasts 4hrs. They meet again 8yrs later when she tries urgently to find the man who fathered her child, House.
1. Chapter 1

**Copyright KBrogan2007**

**ST. GROBIAN **

**CHAPTER 1 **

**A T. REX TOO MANY**

The conception of my daughter was more like a vague chance encounter than the culmination of some beautiful relationship. In fact, my relationship with her father lasted four hours, long enough to get drunk, screw, get sober and feel sheepish. When I found out that I was pregnant I had trouble remembering where or when I had been with someone. I truly had a hard time remembering even doing the deed, that's how meaningless it had seemed to me at the time. I had a harder time remembering facts about my daughter's father. I had been so sure that he was a small blemish on my life that I hadn't bothered to file any information about him in that part of the brain where you can retrieve it easily. When the pregnancy test came back positive I sat down to think about that night just six weeks ago.

"What are you drinking?" He asked from his perch at the bar. I noted quickly that his hair was a wavy reddish brown. His face was clean shaven but long; his body was thin but nicely proportioned.

"T. REx." I was nervous, waiting for my college boyfriend to show up. I was in San Diego for the First Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota. My college boyfriend, Calvin Jones, was a professor in Microbiology at UCSD. Neither of us had married in the six years since we had last seen each other. When I called him to let him know I was in town, he seemed happy and had suggested we meet up at 101 Galileo at 8:30 pm across from the convention center.

I had spent the longest time trying to figure out which of the few articles of clothing I had brought I should wear. I fingered the blue shirtdress and then the black trousers and black shirt. I decided to go with the blue shirtdress. I buttoned it up and looked at my reflection. I needed makeup, at least to highlight my light colored eyelashes. After applying makeup, I looked at my watch and saw that it was 8:20 pm. I whipped out the door and down Fifth Avenue, through the Gas Lamp District, and over to the newer set of buildings that faced Harbor Drive. Now it was 9:00pm and no sign of Calvin, just a stranger wanting to know what I was drinking.

My excitement over the rendezvous was quickly slipping into that mixture of disappointment, embarrassment and anger. Normally, I'd be flattered or disturbed by a guy trying to make a pass at me, but in my disappointment over Calvin, I couldn't care less. I finally stopped watching the door and turned to concentrate on him. He was good looking, well dressed, with beautiful, luscious, bewitching blue eyes.

"What are you drinking?" I asked in return.

"You want to buy me a drink? I like it when blondes buy me drinks."

I threw my head back a little and laughed. "No, I was just trying to be polite."

"I'm drinking whiskey, neat. Sure you don't want to buy me a drink? I'm a cheap date. It just takes one to get me in bed."

I laughed again. "I'm sorry, but at ten bucks a drink I can't afford it."

He knitted his forehead and narrowed his eyes. "You're not a doctor?"

I was surprised by that question, "I am a doctor, but not a medical doctor. Is that what you meant?"

"What type of doctor are you?"

"Paleontology."

"You're a dinosaur doctor?"

"Uh, yeah. And you?"

"M.D."

"Oh, is there a convention in town?" I asked. I thought he looked like a doctor; he had that intelligent look of superiority a lot of doctors have.

He nodded as he picked up his drink and spoke into his glass, "Infectious Disease Symposium." He swallowed, put the glass down and looked at the bartender. "Another whiskey and a for the lady."

"Oh, you don't have to buy me a drink."

"Are you kidding, you're the most interesting person in this bar. I've never met a pretty blonde who gets a doctorate in dinosaurs. That's the most exciting thing I've heard since I've been here."

"You don't live a very exciting life."

He lowered his eyebrows and touched his lower lip with his finger in disagreement. "I live an exciting life, just this afternoon I found a quarter on the street."

I watched his finger touch his lip and blurted, "You're fingers are incredibly long." I then realized I was staring at them. When I looked up at him he seemed perplexed. "I'm sorry for the non-sequitur, I just notice things like that sometimes and then I say the first thing that comes to mind."

"Really? I'm surprised. You seem to be such a nice young lady." The wrinkled crows feet at the corner of his eyes told me he was teasing.

"Yeah, well it's gotten me into trouble more often than not."

"Are you here on a dig?"

"No, the First Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota."

He started laughing. He looked down and tried to compose himself so he wouldn't offend me. He rubbed his hand over his mouth as if to wipe the laughter from his lips.

I tried to look serious, "Hey, we paleontologists know how to get our rocks off. Oh, no that's geologists that do that. "

He turned his head and looked at her mischievously, "You're funny. My name is Greg. I'm here from Princeton."

"Hi Greg. Maddie, from Jordan, Montana." We shook hands and I wondered if he also noticed the difference in the size of our hands. His long fingers easily wrapped around my entire hand. I looked at my watch just to confirm I had waited well past a sociably acceptable time for someone to be late. I looked up at Greg and nodded. "I'm tired. I think I'll say good night and get going."

"Oh, no! Please don't go, you're the only interesting thing here."

"You're in San Diego, certainly you can find something interesting to do in a city as beautiful as this?"

"I've had my fill of sun, sand and bikinis."

Now I laughed, "You can't have enough of bikinis, you're a man! Are you married?"

"Nope. You?"

I laughed, "No, I'm 28 and no man in sight." I motioned to the empty stool next to me.

"Oh, stood up?"

"Yeah and by someone I was sure would show. That's how pathetically optimistic I am."

"I'm pathetically pessimistic. Maybe we balance each other out to keep the world from imploding."

I drank my Tequila laden T. Rex and then he ordered me another one. I weigh 118 lbs and three T. Rex means I'm easily convinced that I should be up on a table stripping. So this is where my memory gets a little blurry. I know we talked for another hour, I know we went back to his hotel room at the Marriott. I know we had sex. He came twice, and so I think it was good for him. The phone rang and he answered it. From his soft tone and his reassuring, "I love you too," I knew he wasn't talking to his grandmother. I jumped up and started to get dressed.

He hung up, looked at me and grimmaced. "Oh, don't go. Come back to bed. Don't leave."

"You said you weren't married."

"I'm not, it's my girlfriend–" he frowned and looked away, " – we haven't been getting along very well lately. You know how it goes, I work too much and don't pay enough attention to her."

"Girlfriend? That's just as bad. I'm not into men who are taken."

He exhaled and shook his head. He frowned and started to get up. "Okay, let me get dressed and I'll make sure you get back to your hotel safely."

"Don't bother, I'm just a few blocks away." I already had my shoes in my hand, had grabbed my purse and was out of there as fast as I could run. That was my relationship with the father of my daughter. The entire volume of what I knew consisted of: Greg, doctor, Princeton, Infectious Disease Convention, tall, long fingers, and blue–oh so blue–eyes.

**CHAPTER 2**

**TO HELL AND BACK**

Jordan, Montana is the closest town to the Hell Creek Formation, a paleontologist's wet dream. It is the most intensely-studied division of Upper Cretaceous to lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek. The Hell Creek Formation occurs in the badlands of eastern Montana and portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In the summer it's hot, dirty, and dusty. The horizon is dotted with golden red hills and valleys. In the spring there's a touch of prairie grass that covers the valleys, but by summer it's dry and the grass is brown, uninviting. In the winter, it's cold, really, really bitingly cold. It's the perfect backdrop for cowboy and Indian movies. Montana is known for its cowpokes and wranglers and Jordan, Montana had a lot of them.

Eight years ago I was an ambitious woman sporting two doctorates, in paleontology and archeology, and a desire to eventually get a cushy job teaching in a university somewhere. I had started working for the famous paleontologist, Jack Benson, as his official onsite archaeologist in Hell Creek. It was a position set up to appease the Federal and state governments as well as the native cultures in the area who were afraid that all the dinosaur digs were going to disturb and destroy native American cultural and sacred places. Jack hired me ten years ago because I could do double duty, work as a paleontologist most of the time until we came across something that required my skills as an archaeologist. When I put my archeologist hat on, I was there to assure that tribal traditions and sites were documented, catalogued and made an integral part of our field management.

It was a hot August afternoon, six weeks after the symposium in San Diego and I was working on uncovering a partial Triceratops. I was having a hard time staying awake. It was hot, dry and I was constantly sick to my stomach. I knew I was going to throw up and worried that I would do it on the portion of the site that we had just painstakingly uncovered. I ran and found a nice rock to barf behind. It wasn't a graceful action, but as I did, I saw the gleam of a small white protrusion in the brown and red dust just next to where I deposited my morning eggs and bacon.

"Jack...Jack!"

Jack came running over. "What?" He looked down and saw that I had thrown up, "Do you need help? Here, drink some water."

"No, look." I pointed down to the ground and he saw it too. He smiled. "Pretty, very pretty." He knelt down. "Girl, you just found something."

"That's great, but I've got to get back to the trailer."

"Go ahead, I'll get Kevin over here. You might just have a ..."

We looked at the bone and my eyes widened, "Velociraptor?" there was a certain shape to the cycle shaped claws of a Velociraptor that made them distinctive from other dinosaurs.

Jack was equally excited, his face beaming, "Yep. But you go back to the trailer and get well. We'll take care of this for today."

Jade came up to me, "Whoa..did you find that Maddie?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, one for the gals! You look terrible." Jade loved it when one of the women found an important find.

"I've been throwing up."

"Fever?" she asked.

"No, just tired and sick."

Jade laughed and stuck her head out and grinned, "Sounds like you're pregnant. Could you be? You seein' George again?"

"No. I'm not sleeping around." But as soon as my words left my mouth I realized that I did have sex, once, about six weeks before. _It was six weeks. But I had a period. Ok, it was light, really light...but still. Could I be pregnant by...that guy? Oh, God, anyone but a stranger who was cheating on his girlfriend._

I got in my jeep and took off back to the trailer two miles away. We had our own little trailer village consisting of four travel trailers and a large command tent. Each trailer housed one of the regulars during the dig. Three of them were small trailers, nothing fancy. The last was Jack's and it was fairly large because he would frequently host us for meetings, dinners or get-togethers. Jade, Kevin and I lived in the small trailers. We did have others helping us, but they usually went back to Jordan at the end of the day or were tourists on a "fantasy archeological dig" vacation. The site for our trailers was chosen because it had a well where we could get enough water for the four of us to live. We also had a couple of propane generators. I started one up so I could run the air conditioner in my trailer.

I stepped inside my oven of a trailer and turned on the a/c, grabbing a calendar and counting the days since I had been in San Diego. It worked out to just shy of six weeks since I had carnal knowledge of "Greg the long fingered doctor of Princeton." I went to lay down and nap, but I was too nervous. I decided I better go into town and get a test or I wouldn't be able to sleep.

Jordan has a population of 387, a post office, a dozen places to eat or buy take-out food, one drug store, two grocery stores and a county office that houses the police, registrar and court. Next door to it is the post office. Jordan's claim to fame is for being close to the some of the richest dinosaur digs in the world. I walked into the drugstore and saw Perry, the town gossip and owner of the drugstore. I dreaded this. I had to buy the damn test from him at the check out counter meaning that everyone in town would know about it.

"Hey Maddie, what brings you to town?"

"Need some supplies and candy." I put the shampoo, candy, Neosporin and pregnancy test on the counter to buy.

He looked up and said, "My, my Maddie, what hornet's nest have you stirred up?"

I smiled weakly and handed him the money. On my way back to camp I stopped in and bought myself a big ol' cheeseburger and fries. When I got back to my trailer Jade and Kevin were outside in lawn chairs drinking beer.

"Where'd you go?" Kevin asked. Kevin was devilishly handsome with light brown eyes, reddish blonde hair, kind of a Robert Redford look but a little more angular. He's six foot and gets more ss than a toilet seat. I have to admit that Jade and I both had, at one time or another, found ourselves climbing out of his bed. Still, he's rather harmless and more fun than worrisome. He's four years older than me and after working together for two years, he had turned into a brother more than a former lover.

"Get some shampoo. I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed, see if I can shake this crud, good night you guys."

" "night Maddie." they all said in unison.

The next morning I peed on the stick and it didn't even take the full three minutes for it to say "YES." And that's how smart women make stupid mistakes. I spent the next seven months blaming the drinks that night, being stood up or "Greg" for not using protection, but I knew it was me. I was pregnant because I didn't act like an adult and now I was being punished.

Jack didn't see any reason for me to quit. He just let me cut back a little on the number of hour I worked in the sun. "Hell, it's not like you've got cancer. But you need to think about what you're going to do when the baby comes. You need to get a house. Living in a tiny trailer with a baby is going to get old quick."

I bought my house in Jordan for $32,000. It was a boring white clapboard house with two bedrooms. It's biggest asset was the new roof, paint and windows. The listing said it was 890 square feet, but I think that was stretching it. The bedrooms were both the same size, a miserable 11' x 10', but it was mine.

**CHAPTER 3**

**CHUMANI**

I spent the summer happily uncovering my velociraptor which my commission for discovering went to pay for my little house. By the time winter rolled around and we were wrapping up our dig for the season, I was feeling the baby kick. I was due March 22nd and that meant I would have to miss the months of April and May on the dig. I was panicking. I didn't know how I was going to make enough money to pay for everything, the delivery, the baby, my student loans and monthly expenses.

Jack came to my rescue. "You stay onsite with us and handle the cataloguing and paperwork until you can get in the field again. If we come up with some Indian stuff, then you can come out to the field and tell us what to do." I guess I must have looked relieved because he gave me a little hug, "Did you really think I would let you starve?"

"Jack, thanks. Thanks so much."

"I'm just sorry I can't help you with the medical." he was referring to the fact that, as grant workers, we didn't have medical coverage.

"I knew all this when I went into this field."

Most paleontologist and archeologist don't start making money until they've had a substantial amount of time in the field and can finally get grants or work in a University or Museum setting. The only ones who make it to that level are those with doctorates and lots of field experience. Obtaining your doctorate and getting experience in the field pretty much wipes out your twenties and early thirties.

I had one of those boring pregnancies where the worst that happened was that I had the worst case of heartburn. I found out later that the town of Jordan had a bet on who the father was of my baby. They eventually had to take the money and buy everyone a drink out of the pot since no one could ever pry the information out of me. It became the town mystery. They all thought I was protecting a married man and so speculation ran rampant as to who I could be protecting. I put down Greg Doe on the birth certificate and under "Father's Occupation" I put, 'Physician," but since I filed the certificate out in Glasgow, no one really had access to it.

It was March 26th and I was feeling like a huge pregnant cow. My last few nights had been sleepless because of the Braxton Hicks contractions. When I went into labor, I was on site cleaning some Daspletosaurus bones. Daspletosaurus is a close relative to . I was just finishing plaster jacketing and quarry mapping the find, when I felt the first twangs of labor. I went to the bathroom and saw that I had passed, "the show." I knew I had several hours to go before the pains became overwhelming, so I stayed on the job and did what I was hired to do. I was outside sitting in a lawn chair talking on the cell phone to a museum about the dig when my water broke.

I went out and found Jade, "I have to take off. Can you let Jack know?"

She knitted her brow and narrowed her eyes, "Where are you going?"

"Glasgow."

"You're in labor?"

"Yep."

She started running down the path towards Kevin and Jack, "Yeeehhhaaa!! I'm takin' the pregnant lady to the hospital...we're havin' a baby!"

There was some woopin' and hollerin' at the end of the path and the three of them came up to the staging tent. "Good luck Maddie, we'll be right behind you in a few hours."

"Thanks you guys." I turned to Jade, "I can drive myself." I'm fairly self-sufficient and hate for anyone to take care of me. Most people say that my pride and independence will be my undoing. There's no doubt that my lack of a male presence in my life is due to my inability to let someone take care of me. On the odd occasion I"ve let Jack help me, but that's because I make sure I help him back or pay his back.

"Oh no you don't! What if the contractions get bad on the way? Nah, I'm takin' ya and that's it!" She smiled broadly. I looked at Jade, she was a scrawny, tanned and weathered Montana girl in her late thirties. She had a Masters in Paleontology and had no desire to do anything but field work, just like Kevin. She had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She was pretty, but not in the typical way. Her eyes were just a little too close together and her lips too thin and wide to be considered classically pretty. But guys liked her. She had narrow hips, long, thin legs and like all of us, she wore Wranglers, plaid shirts, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat almost 24/7.

"Okay, let's get going then." I wasn't going to argue with Jade, she was even more stubborn than me.

When we arrived at the hospital an hour later, I was dilated and ready for the labor room. The nursing staff couldn't believe that a first time delivery only took four hours from beginning to end. At the end of it they handed me this pink blanket with a howling baby and told me to hold her. I was so dead tired from working all day and then pushing a baby out, I just wanted to sleep. I was soon to learn that sleep was something I did in my past life. I was a single mother and nothing was ever going to be the same.

I looked at her yelling her head off at me. _Jesus, you're a noisy one. Ten toes, ten fingers, look at those tiny fingernails! Those fingers are awfully long for your tiny little body. I guess you got them from your Dad. Your hair, what little you have, is blonde–I wonder if it will change? _I kissed her hand and looked into her eyes, they were filmy and dark. I was unable to tell what they were going to look like yet.

Jade was pulling the blanket down from around her face and trying to get a peak. "What are you going to name her?"

"Chumani."

"I thought you'd pick an Irish name, why Sioux?"

"Because we get a lot of Sioux artifacts at the dig. They come through town from Fort Peck and they're always so nice. I thought it would be nice to honor them. Besides, I met a woman named Chumani, it means dewdrops. She was pretty and very nice and I always remembered how calm she seemed."

"Judging from that baby's howl, calmness isn't going to be one of her traits. She's going to be like her mom, a sh!tkicker." Jade shook her head as the baby screamed, "Come on Maddie, at least tell me what her father looks like."

"I don't want to spoil it for everyone. I can say his eyes were his best feature."

"Oh Lord, you slept with Teddy, didn't you?"

"NO! Her father wasn't from Jordan, so get your mind out of the gutter."

"I don't know why you don't tell me, I am your best friend."

"Because Jade, I really don't know him that well. It was a mistake."

"Yep, and that mistake wants to be fed."

**CHAPTER 4**

**MONTANA GIRL**

I should have known her name would be bstardized in Montana. After all, this is the town that has people with nick-names like "Mule", "Duck," "Tinkle," "Mousey," and "Pasty." By her fifth year my daughter answered to Chu-chu and only Chu-chu. It drove me nuts, I hated the name, but there wasn't much I could do. In Kindergarten, they laughed when she beat up a little boy for calling her Chumani. It was just one of several scraps I had to smooth over. She tended to get into fights when someone called or did something to her or her friends. She was her own cape crusader. Making sure that people treated each other fairly was very important to her. She had a moral compass that was unique. Her idea of what was right wasn't always what I would have thought. But she was compassionate and very good to her friends.

Her brainpower was off the charts and it made my life difficult. I had to be careful what I said at all times or she'd ask questions until I was forced to tell her everything I knew in my head about the subject. The school in little Jordan, Montana didn't know what to do with a kid in kindergarten that could read at fifth grade level and do math at sixth grade. It sounds cool, but it was a curse in many ways. She was bored, always bored. And when Chu-chu got bored, she was ornery. She'd find ways to light a fire under people that few adults would know how to do.

"Gee Mrs. Jackson, were you at Joe's last night?" My daughter smiled coyly.

"Why no Chu-chu, why do you ask?" the middle aged woman responded.

"'Cause Mama and I were comin' home and I saw Mr. Jackson's truck, you know the one with the dent in the back, parked at the bar last night." Chu-chu would smile widely and with an innocense that everyone in town bought. She could manipulate everyone but me. I knew her number.

We heard a few days later that Mr. Jackson had moved in with Terry Hayes, the newly divorced Terry Hayes. I shook my head when I heard it at the Snack Shack. I looked at my daughter, "You need to be careful what you say to people and don't give me that Miss Innocent look."

"But Mama, he's so mean to Mrs. Jackson. Now he can be mean to Miss Hayes."

I laughed. It was true, Jake Jackson was an SOB and ran around a lot on his wife. But that stopped. Katie Jackson filed for divorce and, in the end, she got his truck, the one with the dent in the back.

At school they had her attend classes with the second graders because she was creating so much havoc in kindergarten. The second grade teacher wanted to move her to third grade.

"Chu-chu's bored Maddie, we need to move her to third grade. When she's bored all she does is talk. I can't make her stop. And she throws out these funny jokes and one liners that keeps the kids laughing. She needs a special school for smart kids but there ain't one around here."

We eventually learned that you had to give her extra projects to do, papers to write, puzzles to solve or research to do or she'd disrupt the class. She was moved into third grade but even there she ended up with more work to do than the other kids, just to shut her up.

Chu-chu was gorgeous. She didn't look much like me at all. The pictures with the two of us look like we come from two different families. I'm short, average build and pretty, but nothing to write home about. I have average sized gray eyes, a little nose, white skin with freckles and I'm as short waisted as they come. My legs are nice and long for my body because my waist is so high. But I'm a bad judge of my own looks. Jade says I'm too critical of myself. Most men and women tell me I'm very pretty.

Chu-chu had better proportions than me. She had long legs, long fingers, long nose ,a sweet, petite face and killer blue eyes. Her blond hair was turning a chestnut brown. She had nice red highlights that caught your eye when her hair blew in the wind. She had the most infectious laugh. You couldn't help but laugh when she did. It was loud and natural, nothing forced about it.

I loved my daughter even though she was a handful and kept me dancing to her tune. She spent a lot of time on digs with me and despite the fact that she was easily bored, she loved being in the field and sifting through dirt with me. She liked putting the bones together like a puzzle. By the time she was seven, my daughter could run rings around grad students when it came to putting together the skeleton structure of most dinosaurs.

We would get interns and fellows join us on digs and my daughter would quiz them and, if they did poorly, announce to everyone at the site that the new grad student was, "long in jeans and short in brains." Of course by the end of the day my daughter was apologizing under the threat of having everything she loved dearly taken away from her.

Chu-chu and I were very close. She often climbed in bed with me and we'd talk about all the things children like to talk about. She wanted to know about her father and it made me sad that I couldn't tell her more. So, I told her what I did know and made other things up.

"Was he handsome?"

"Yes, he was very handsome. He had beautiful blue eyes and gorgeous long fingers. He played the violin with those lovely fingers."

"Was he short, tall, what?"

"Tall, over six feet."

"Was he smart?"

"He's a doctor, of course he's smart."

"What kind of doctor?"

"He treats infectious diseases."

"Is he good at it?"

"He's the best there is. You got your smarts from him."

"Where is he?"

"I'm not sure, but somewhere on the east coast."

"Why did you leave him?"

"It was just time, we both had different lives to lead. He had family in Princeton and I had my job here."

"Why doesn't he come to see me? Or call? Or write?" she asked and I could hear the pain in her little voice.

"Because Mommy made a huge mistake. I didn't know that I was pregnant with you until it was too late. I didn't know where he had moved to or how to find him so that I could tell him. He doesn't know he has a beautiful daughter. But he once told me that he wished he had a daughter, a little girl that would have his blue eyes and long fingers. He wanted a little girl like you very much. He wanted to teach you how to play violin and how to be a doctor. He had lots of plans for his daughter. I know that if he ever saw you he'd never let you go. He'd hold you forever."

She smiled and hugged me. I worried about telling lies to her about him. But what could I do? I didn't want her to think that the most important man in her life might not want her. It was an easy lie and hard to disprove. So I made my little girl feel wanted by the man who got me drunk in San Diego and cheated on his girlfriend.

"What's his name?"

"Greg Doe."

"Then I'm Chu-chu Doe?"

"No silly, women don't have to take their father's name. You have my family name, Doyle. Chu-chu Doyle. Chumani Doyle."

"Did our family write Sherlock Holmes?"

"Your great-great-great-great-uncle did."

"Cool."

**CHAPTER 5**

**THE KICK IN THE BUTT**

Life is strange. You get into a rut. Your life each day is pretty much the same as the day before until something bites you on the ss to wake you up. It might be that your boyfriend tells you he's leaving you; a friend announces that they're engaged; a tornado hits; you run off the road in a snowstorm. My life pretty much had a rhythm to it until a day just after Chu-chu turned seven. She came lumbering through the back door into the kitchen, climbed up on the counter to get a glass for some juice when I noticed the big bruise on her leg just above her cowboy boots.

"Chu-chu, did you get in another fight?" I pointed at her leg with an angry look on my face.

"No. I don't know how I got that." She looked down at it. She shrugged her shoulders, turning her mouth down at the corners, "I'm going to watch tv."

I feel bad, but I didn't believe her. I was certain I was going to get a phone call from the school or parent telling me about a fight she had been in.

That summer she spent a lot of time sleeping in the main tent while I was digging. I had received several grants and things were looking up. I had put my career on hold for the first few years of Chu-chu's life, but had started applying for my own grants in the last three years. Jack had endorsed me, which went a long way in the Paleontology world. I received several grants in the first six months. I could finally see me getting that job at a university in the next few years.

Chu-chu got a rash that wouldn't go away and then a nasty, can't-open-your-eyes, headache. I took some time off to run her into the clinic in Jordan and they referred me to the hospital in Billings. Our family doctor, Dr. Machen, wasn't too pleased with her bruises and her lethargy.

"It could be nothing Maddie, so let's not get too worried yet."

"But you have something in mind, I can tell."

"I'm worried that she might have something serious. She's always been pretty energetic. This isn't like her, is it?"

I had to shake my head in acknowledgment. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes started to strain to keep from tearing. He could see how scared I was and I thought for sure he'd say something to reassure me that he was probably wrong, but he didn't. That scared me even more.

Her red blood cells were low and her white ones were off the chart. They also found _blasts,_ blood cells normally just found in bone marrow and not in circulating blood. It was leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Because she was diagnosed with such a high white blood count (WBC) she was considered at high risk.

I turned my grant work over to Jack and Jade, who helped me considerably and let me keep most of the money that should have gone to them. They both loved Chu-chu like their own child and were worried about both of us. She had grown up running around our camps and out in the field with them and they were used to having her around. They were devastated by the diagnosis. Kevin took it harder than any of them. Chu-chu and Kevin did a lot together. He'd take her fishing, ice skating, hiking, and just about anywhere he went, Chu-chu would hitch a ride.

My baby girl was fitted with a venous access device (VAD). It was inserted into a large blood vessel in her chest. It was left in place to be used to take blood samples and give intravenous (IV) drugs, reducing the number of needle sticks needed during treatment. The end of the tube stuck out from her chest. They gave her chemotherapy but she did not go into remission on the first round, which was not a good sign. They had to give her "growth factors" to help keep her white cell count up.

She started to get painful mouth sores and horrendous nausea and diarrhea. She lost a lot of weight and looked frail. Her hair fell out so we bought her a ballcap with hair hanging out of it. She was so far ahead at school that no one seemed worried about her attendance.

She went into remission, but about four months later I started to notice more bruising and her lethargy was back;, so was the leukemia. When it comes back that fast, the best therapy is a bone marrow transplant or, even better, a core blood transplant. A bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant comes from someone, usually a sibling, who is a match. A core blood transplant comes from the blood taken from the umbilical cord of a match, again– usually a sibling. A core blood transfer has the highest rate of success.

In layman's terms, a bone marrow transplant or core blood transplant means that first the child is given excessive radiation to destroy the sick child's immune system to keep the body from attacking the new bone marrow or core blood that is transplanted from a healthy individual. The transplant kick starts the sick child's immune system to make healthy cells rather than cancerous blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is not just tortuous for the sick child, but incredibly expensive and devastating for the entire family. It costs over $100,000.

But my daughter had no siblings. I wasn't a match and I had no siblings. Chu-chu was placed on the bone marrow donor list and sat there, along with other needy children, for months. The longer we waited, the more likely she was going to get an infection that she couldn' fight off.

I sold our little house to pay for her chemo treatments. I didn't qualify yet for state aid, not until we had exhausted the equity in the house. With Jack's blessings, we moved into one of the little trailers on site of the digs. A sick kid in a trailer no bigger than 26 feet by 8 feet wide is not easy to deal with. But I had no choice, it was the only way I could keep my head above water. It seemed that we weren't going to get any breaks, my grant money ran out and, considering my situation, I couldn't apply for another one until I knew I could actually work the dig.

Our oncologist was clear. Chu-chu was in remission but her one chance to survive was a transplant. I didn't know where I would get the money to pay for it, but it was all moot unless I could find her a donor. I talked to the oncologist about my situation. He was a sweet middle-aged man with photos of children all over his office. I saw a polaroid taken of Chu-chu by one of the nurses up on his wall. He was clear, "Her father might be a match or even a half sibling could be a match."

"What would be the very best treatment?' I asked.

"If you had another baby by her father and we used the core blood from the umbilical cord. That would be her best hope for survival."

I knew what I had to do. I had to find Greg Doe.

I spent the night on the internet going through the physicians listed who practiced in Princeton. I decided to include Plainsboro and Trenton. I would first conduct my search in Princeton and then continue to Plainsboro and then Trenton. I found nine Greg's under physicians in the area. Only one, in Trenton, was listed as an infectious disease doctor. I realized then that my Greg had probably moved. I would have to drive to Princeton to try and find out where he had gone. He might have children by now, they might be a match, he might be a match. I had no choice but to hunt him down.

I told Jack, Jade and Kevin what I was going to do. I told them I was going to leave the next morning. They all seemed incredibly sad and worried, but understood. That night around Jack's trailer taking turns holding Chu-chu like she was never coming back.

"It's a long shot, but I'd go find and try to find him too." Jack said in confidence. That evening he showed up in my trailer while Chu-chu was sleeping and I was packing. "Maddie, this is for your trip." He handed me a wad of money, $2,000 dollars.

I started to get emotional, my throat constricted and tears started to trickle quietly down my cheeks. "Jack, I can't take this. But thanks."

"No Maddie, I'd give you more but it's in money market accounts and I need time to take it out. Chu-chu's the closest thing I have to a kid. This money means nothing to me compared to her sweet little face. Please take it."

I could use it. I only had $850 for the trip. I was on the verge of bankruptcy, not a penny to my name. The disease had gone through what little savings and assets I had put away for Chu-chu and I. "I'll only take it if you consider it a loan."

"Okay, consider it an interest free loan, payable in thirty years, okay?"

I nodded and tried to smile. He hugged me and he started crying. I was shocked. Here was big, beer bellied Jack Benson crying on my shoulder like a blubbering baby. I stopped crying, so shocked by it. I just held him and then he ran out of my trailer like a bolt of lightening.

I packed my 1998 Jeep Cherokee, making the back seat into a bed for Chu-chu and packing a cooler up front with water, sodas and her medicine. The car had just been in for a check up and was supposedly, in my mechanic's words, in "purty good" condition. I had my mapquests printed out and we took off for Princeton at 7:30 am after a round of hugs and kisses from my three best friends. They each slipped me money, even Jack tried to slip me more, which I refused.

I took off, tears streaming down my face, Chu-chu already asleep in the back seat. I had her entire medical file in the back just in case I needed it for something. I put on my cd's and thought about the road ahead. Everything I owned or held dear was in the car with me. My life had been reduced to a space of approximately 6 feet x 9 feet.

**CHAPTER 6**

**PRINCETON**

Greg House refused to admit to his best friend, James Wilson, that he had gone back to taking the anti-depressants. He had only felt hazy for a few weeks and then his thinking cleared up. He had to admit that his outlook had improved and he was starting to get out more and do more things. His ego wouldn't let him stay on the drugs until he was able to convince himself that it was a chemically sound way of improving depression and not just hocus pocus. He read all the literature and now accepted that the science behind SSRI anti-depressants was sound.

His bad leg seemed a little better too. The pain from the missing muscle and nerve damage wasn't quite as debilitating as usual. He had been working out, building up the muscles in both legs and he had noticed an improvement in his mobility as well as a decrease in pain.

All in all, House was starting to feel like he had entered a period of Renaissance in his life and that all things were possible. Heaven forbid, he might even start to enjoy himself, find himself a girlfriend, maybe two, and start a new religion. Greg-worship.

Greg House was the head of Diagnostics at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital and his offices were next door to James Wilson, head of Oncology, and House's long suffering best friend. They shared a balcony that was separated by a low brick wall which House had found easy to scale even with his bad leg. Wilson frequently cringed when he saw House on his side of the balcony banging to get inside.

Wilson watched his friend travel through the cafeteria with his tray of food in one hand and his flame etched cane in the other. Wilson was surprised at the way House looked these days. He wasn't always scowling. It wasn't like he was always smiling or laughing, but he didn't look perpetually mean either. His humor was still brutal and cutting, but now he would occasionally say funny things that weren't at the expense of someone else. He kept his short cropped beard and continued to wear his rumpled clothes, but he just seemed to more relaxed these days. Wilson had definitely seen an improvement in Greg House's looks and demeanor.

"You know, we have it pretty good." Wilson announced to House as he sat down.

House furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes, puzzled by the remark, "How do you figure?"

"My friend at Princeton General says that they just had another budget cut and laid off two staff physicians and four nurses. They were operating at a pretty high ratio of doctors to patients as it was, I can't imagine cutting back further."

"Well getting rid of some of their doctors certainly won't hurt their performance. They've got some dumbss doctors over there."

"Maybe. But, we have state of the art equipment, a great ratio of doctors to patients, good salaries, great benefits and a boss who seems to tolerate us."

"You mean me. She tolerates me." House said.

"Yeah, that's what I said." Wilson felt the vibration from his pager and looked at it. "Hey, what are you doing for Martin Luther King's weekend?"

House shrugged his shoulder, "Why?"

"I've got to get this, but I thought we could go to Atlantic City and do some gambling. Up for it?"

"Me gamble? God's going to strike you down James Wilson. Can I use the pretty blue chips?" He batted his eyes, "Yeah, sounds like a game plan."

"Okay, I'll catch you later." Wilson scurried over to the conveyor and put his dirty dishes on it. Clinic consult, Exam 2. Free clinic and they need an oncologist, not a good sign.

Wilson walked over to the clinic, knocked and then opened the door. He saw Dr. Robert Chase with a pretty, very tired-looking, woman and a young strikingly beautiful little girl. He immediately knew the patient was the young girl and, from her short post-chemo hair, it wasn't good. Chase handed him a large file from another hospital and introduced him to the girls, "Maddie and Chumani Doyle, this is Dr. James Wilson."

The little girl, in a small, tired voice said, "Chu-chu. _not_ Chumani."

Wilson smiled, "Chu-chu, Ms. Doyle." He turned to Chase, "What do we have?"

"AML, was in remission but she's got bruising and fatigue." Chase lowered his voice, "The recommendation is for a Bone Marrow Transplant."

Wilson was looking at the file, "Billings, Montana? What are you doing in Princeton, Ms. Doyle?"

Wilson saw the mother give him a sign that she didn't want her daughter to know and then she said, "We came to see you Dr. Wilson, we heard you were a great oncologist."

"Well, can I see you outside for a minute, there are papers for you to sign."

"Sure." They stepped out of the room.

Wilson smiled at her to encourage her. He already liked her just from the way she carried herself. She was about 5'3"-5'4", sandy blonde hair, grey eyes, a rectangle face except for her little chin that broke up the plane of the rectangle. She was very pretty, not beautiful, but clearly tired and haggard. He didn't have to see the file to know that she wasn't from Princeton. She wore a long-sleeved flannel, plaid shirt, old worn Wranglers with a leather belt and silver belt buckle. She had on real cowboy boots, not Paris Hilton wannabes. They were brown leather and obviously well-worn from years of use.

"Dr. Wilson, my daughter is dying. She has one chance to survive, a bone marrow or core blood transfer. She's on the national registry, but I don't need to tell you what her chances are of finding a donor. She's never met her father and I didn't want her to know that we were here to look for him and hopefully, some half siblings she might have, just in case they're a match. She's always had these fantasies about meeting her Dad, so I don't want her to know what we're really doing here. I don't want to raise her hopes."

"I see. I understand." Wilson looked in her eyes and could tell she was desperate, "Your daughter probably has an infection. She needs to be hospitalized until we can get it under control."

"I don't have insurance. She has a VAD, can I just give her the antibiotics? We're staying at the Howard Johnsons. At home I've gotten pretty good at administering her the drugs she needs. I had to because we live two hours from the hospital."

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, let me figure out what type of infection she has. Do you have enough to pay for those tests?"

He saw her wince, "How much?"

"Maybe $250?"

She pinched her lips together and nodded.

He could tell that $250 wasn't going to be easy for her to afford. "I have a clinical trial program for children with leukemia. It's for a new drug to keep them relatively stable while they wait for bone marrow donations. I could try to get your daughter into it. I'm required to run a full blood work-up, so I'll do that and that way it won't cost you anything."

She looked down at her boots and hunched her shoulders, "Thank you Dr. Wilson, we really appreciate your kindness."

Wilson knew that the little girl probably wouldn't make the trial unless he could get her infection under control. "Look, come up to my office while I read through her file."

"Okay."

**CHAPTER 7**

**MEN WITH TOYS**

They went back into the clinic and found Chase and Chu-chu laughing at something. Wilson thought the little girl was darling. She had a little crown of brown hair covering her head and the most spectacular blue eyes you could ever see. They were large, intelligent and kind. She giggled with Chase over something and her whole body laughed with her. Wilson was enchanted by her. She reminded him of someone.

"Let's get you up to my office and take care of you. But before we go, Dr. Chase is going to take some blood." Wilson nodded to Chase. Chase drew several tubes of blood and handed them to Wilson along with the chart. They took the elevator to the second floor, went past several offices and then Wilson opened the door to his office.

Maddie pointed to a sofa, "Pumpkin, go sit over there." Chu-chu went over and laid down on the sofa. Wilson looked at the file and had to agree with her treating doctor, she needed a bone marrow transplant.

Wilson told Maddie about the trial. "I need the results back on her blood tests and then we need to admit her. I'll make sure that she gets treatment for this infection. You need to go down to our test coordinator and fill out the paperwork. Take her chart, you're going to need information from it."

They both looked at Chu-chu and before Maddie could wake her, Wilson put up a hand. "She can stay here and sleep. It will take you awhile to sign up. I have to make some rounds, we can leave her a message to stay put."

Maddie laughed, "Stay put, I'd like to see that! But she is tired, she may sleep quite awhile. I'll leave the note here, taped on the chair and the chair up against the sofa, she'll have to see it."

The note was taped to the chair and the chair pushed up to the sofa. It said,

CHU-CHU -

STAY PUT! YOUR BOOKS ARE IN YOUR BACKPACK.

I WILL BE BACK SOON.

LOVE, MOM XXOO

Wilson walked Maddie to the elevator. She went down to the first floor administration offices, Wilson went to Radiology in the basement. Chu-chu napped quietly on the sofa in Wilson's office.

Half an hour later, the little girl stirred. She sat up and looked at the note and then looked around the office. She didn't feel like reading, not while she was alone in a new place. Chu-chu couldn't sit still. She went out to the balcony and looked over the edge to the parking lot and front entrance. Everyone seemed so busy to her. She was curious, there was another balcony separated from the one she was on by a short brick wall and then she saw a door to another office. Through the glass door she could see a skeleton and a model of a brain. She climbed the brick wall and opened the door and peered inside to see if anyone would stop her. Finding it clear, she went inside. There was no one in sight.

She looked around, there was a computer which showed the first level of a computer game she played sometimes, a group of books on the desk and a large felt ball. She went to the skeleton and touched it. The bones wiggled on the stand. She opened the desk drawer and saw a harmonica. She pulled it out and started blowing into it, making sounds that caused her to giggle. She stood up and turned around, jumping back at the site of a man staring sternly down at her. He grabbed the harmonica out of her hand.

He frowned at her, "You got spit in my harmonica. Are you contagious?"

"Probably. Are ya gonna hit me with your cane?" she asked.

"Maybe."

She tilted her head, "Do ya have any kids?".

"No, are you flirting with me? And what has having kids got to do with corporal punishment?"

"You've got a lot of toys for not havin' a kid. My Mom says that a man with toys is just an indication of how immature they are."

He scrunched his forehead and bent down to glare at her. "You've got a big mouth for a young kid."

"You've got long fingers."

He waved his head around and gave her a funny look. "I get that a lot. Why shouldn't I use my cane on your butt?"

"Because I can teach ya somethin'."

"You? You're haven't got enough estrogen yet to teach me anything."

"I can teach ya the bones on that skeleton."

House waved his face in hers, "I already know the bones on that skeleton." He stood back up, "How many bones in a human skeleton?'

"206.'

House nodded his head and gave a faint smile. "What's this one?"

"The radius."

House grabbed another, further down the arm. "This one?"

"The ulna. And that's the wrist, the elbow, humerus..." she said as she pointed to each one.

"Yeah, yeah, you're boring me ...you're just a myna bird, repeating back what someone told you."

"Yeah, and you're an unwanted beggar with a cane. Look at ya. You obviously don't have a wife or girlfriend. Don't ya know how to shave or iron a shirt?"

"I'm a doctor."

"So what? So is my Mom and she shaves her legs."

"Oooooo...big deal, now get out of my office."

"Why, don't ya like me?"

"I don't know you."

"I'm Chu-chu."

"As in choo-choo train?"

"That's rude."

"So I've been told."

"What's your name?"

"House, Dr. House."

"As in hovel?"

"Now who's rude?"

"Can you teach me to play the harmonica?"

"No. Why would I want to?"

"I have cancer and it's my dyin' wish?"

"Boo-hoo. I've heard that before. No. The answer is still no. go find some chemo."

"But, it's true. Besides, I'm a quick learner."

"What's in it for me?" House was amused by her tenacity.

"You'll pull the chicks."

He broke up. She was cute, standing there, her hands on her hips, her head tilted and her eyes big and blue. _She's going to be a heartbreaker when she's older, if she doesn't bust their balls first._

"How will I pull the chicks?"

"All the women will fawn over a guy who teaches a dyin' girl how to play a harmonica."

"You're cynical for a six year old."

"I'm eight. You're old and mean, you should meet my mom, she's pretty and nice."

"Pretty and nice? I'm more into slut and nimble guy."

"She's nimble, I don't know if she's a slut though. What's a slut?"

"My best friend."

"Then I'll be a slut and you can teach me to play the harmonica."

"You're too young to be a slut. You have to at least be in sixth grade."

"I'm always too young."

"Isn't your keeper missing you?"

"Dr. Wilson was gone, so I thought I'd look for him."

"Dr. Wilson is your doctor?" House said it with some hesitation.

"Yeah. Do you know him?"

"What do you have?"

"AML."

_Crap. She probably is dying. _"AML is bad but not necessarily fatal."

"Yeah, well I've had two rounds of chemo and now I have an infection and no money."

"No money?" House sat down in his desk chair and watched the little girl grab his big felt ball and started throwing it up and down.

"We sold the house, the furniture, mom's IRA to pay for my two rounds of chemo. We still have our jeep. That's how we got here."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm not sure. Mom says we're here because there might be a donor here and Dr. Wilson is a great oncologist."

"Hmmm. That's good."

"Nah. I heard the doctor tell her that even if she can find a donor, we'd need $100,000 for the transplant. We barely have enough for the Howard Johnson's we're livin' in. Dr. Wilson is gonna try and get me into some program so we don't have to pay for my blood tests today. He's really nice." Without skipping a beat she said, "So are you gonna teach me how to play the harmonica?"

"Why bother? Why not enjoy what you already know how to do?"

"You mean, why start anythin' new if I'm gonna die?"

"Yeah."

"The thing I like to do most is learn somethin' new. So, I'd like to spend time learnin' something new even if I'm only gonna be around for a year."

Wilson came running in..."Chu-chu, you're lucky your mother is still down filling out forms. She left you a note to stay put."

"Sorry Dr. Wilson, but I was busy with Dr. House, he's gonna teach me to play harmonica when I become a slut."

Wilson's head snapped in House's direction. His eyes popped open, "_House?_"

House scrunched his face, his lips upturned and then lifted his shoulders.

Chu-chu ran over to House, still sitting in his seat. She threw her arms around his neck, quickly kissed his cheek and whispered, "I'll be back for my lessons." She turned and ran to Wilson.

House was stunned at first, but then recovered and blurted out, "Just because you have cancer, don't expect me to be your boy toy."

Chu-chu giggled as she took Wilson's hand. She turned and waved at House as she walked out the door with Wilson. They went back to Wilson's office and waited. Maddie came back a few minutes later.

Maddie took a good look at Chu-chu, "You look perky. Did you have a good nap?"

"I met Dr. House. He says he'll teach me to play the harmonica when I'm in sixth grade."

"Why sixth grade?"

"Because then I'll be a slut." she said with a big smile. "Mom, what's a slut? Dr. House says a slut is his best friend."

Maddie looked up at Wilson, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that." Wilson's voice went up an octave.

"Well just in case he meant it, maybe you should stay away from this Dr. House." she patted her daughter's head.

"But I like him. He's funny. He's mean and he doesn't care that I'm dyin'."

Maddie took in a deep breath, "You're not dying. Don't say that. You're going to be okay honey."

"Mom, we don't have any money left for a transplant."

"I'll find a way. You just do your part and stay optimistic, okay?"

Wilson watched this scene and thought of all the similar scenes he had viewed over the last fifteen years. It never ceased to amaze him how strong the cancer kids were compared to the parents. It seemed as if they accepted their fate long before the family did. Wilson was drawn to this tiny family. They were so scrappy and funny.

"I have a bed for you Chu-chu. We'll get you checked in and we'll give you intravenous drugs tonight."

They all went to the third floor and within two hours, Chu-chu was receiving the antibiotics.

Wilson looked at the darkness under Maddie's eyes, "We'll keep her in for at least 48 hours. Why don't you go back to the hotel and get some rest? You look like you've been up for weeks."

"We've been here for fifteen days looking for her father and I haven't found him. I think he moved. I'm beat. Dr. Wilson, can I take a shower in her bathroom?"

"Don't they have showers at the Howard Johnson?"

"I was staying at the Howard Johnson, I checked us out this morning. I've got to find us somewhere cheaper."

"Here, I'll take you to the doctor's lounge, you can take one there."

"Thanks."

**CHAPTER 9**

**ROUNDIN' HOUSE **

House was pissed off at the parents of his patient for not allowing him to conduct a brain biopsy. He had ordered Cameron to take care of getting the approval and then left the patient's room in a fury. As he was making his way down the hall, he heard a little girl's voice, "Dr. House, Dr. House, slow up."

He stopped and turned. She was running after him in a gown, no shoes and the sweetest look, smiling and waving. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. What's wrong with you? You look like you just lost your best b!tch pup. You wanna' talk about it?"

He gave her a look of disdain, "With an eight year old?"

"Why not? Maybe I can help. You should never saw the branch that's supportin' ya, unless you're bein' hung from it."

"What planet are you from?" He snorted and shook his head, "It's nothing, I'm having trouble convincing a mother to let me drill into her son's brain." He gave her a silly look.

"Cool. But maybe you didn't say it right. The only way to drive cattle fast is slowly. Maybe you need to tell them to think about it and then come back. That's a lot to chew off."

"Did you memorize every cowboy cliche in the book? And aren't you a little young to be so old?"

"You get cancer, you get old quick."

House nodded his head and crossed his eyes at her.

"You goin' back to your office?"

"Yes, General Hospital is on." House turned to go downstairs.

"I have to do somethin'. See ya later Doc."

"Alright, Caboose."

"Caboose?"

"Choo-choo."

"LMFAO."

"Does your mother know you have such a filthy mouth?"

She giggled. "You can tell her when she gets back, you'd like her. She could whoop your butt."

"I'd like that."

"To meet my Mom or whoop your butt?"

"The butt thing."

She giggled, "You're cool."

"Yeah, all the women say that." House smiled, turned and walked away.

Five minutes later House heard his office door open, turned and saw a pair of blue eyes staring in at him. "I'm baaaaaaccck"

"I thought you had something to do?" he said.

"I had to tell the nurse where I'd be. I told her that you needed to examine me in your office. What does pervert mean?" she smiled.

"I didn't invite you."

"You didn't have to, I could see how much you wanted company." She walked towards the television next to his desk, turned and looked at him, "So does Kate know about Sonny and Amelia?" Chu-chu pointed at the television.

"She just walked in on them."

"Wow!" Chu-chu looked around the office, "Where's another chair?"

"In there." he nodded towards the outside office.

"The doors are too heavy for me to push one through. Can you get one for me?"

"No, I'm not your lackey and I never invited you." he said with a mean, narrow stare. She walked over to him and pushed on his knee. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I can't pull a chair through that door." She said nothing more, but just kept watching the television as she backed up and climbed up on his lap.

"You can't sit on a strange man's lap."

"Why not? Millions of kids sit on Santa's...and he's strange. Shhhh. I can't hear."

House snickered and looked at her. He sat back and she laid back on his chest while continuing to watch the tv. A few minutes later Cameron and Chase came in. The look of shock on their faces when they saw a little girl in House's lap was priceless. Cameron forgot what she was going to tell House at first. She recovered.

"Uhhh. House? The Millers have..."

"Shhhhh." House and Chu-chu both turned to Cameron to quiet her. House looked down at Chu-chu and smiled. They turned back to the tv.

Cameron looked at Chase and shrugged her shoulders. A commercial came on and House swung the chair around to face Cameron. Both Chase and Cameron took in a sharp breath when they saw the two next to each other.

House was puzzled by their looks, "What?"

"Are you two related?" Chase asked. "You look like you could be her – " House gave Chase a warning look, "– you could be her uncle."

House relaxed and pulled Chu-chu to the side so that they could look in each other's eyes. "I don't see it, do you?"

"It's the eyes. We both have big blue cow eyes." Chu-chu said.

He looked at her eyes, "So we do."

"House, the Millers signed the release form." Cameron said.

"Then go do it." He waved them away. "And leave me with my homie."

General Hospital had been over half an hour when Wilson came into House's office. He did a double take when he saw them playing hangman with House holding the child in his lap. Wilson coughed to let them know he was there.

House looked up, raised his eye brows and shrugged his shoulders, "How do you get rid of her?"

"Howdy Dr. Wilson, you come to round me up?"

"No, but do the nurses know where you are?"

"Yeah. I told them. Where's my Mom?"

"She's taking a nap in the doctor's lounge."

"Is she gonna sleep in the car tonight?"

"Why? I don't think so, it's too cold to do that. I'm sure she'll find a place."

Chu-chu looked down and then up at House's face, "She's used to cold weather."

House wasn't sure what that meant. But when they both looked back at Wilson with the same exact expression and eyes, Wilson tilted his head.

"House, she could be your...niece."

"So I've been told. It's her eyes."

"It's more than the eyes.'

"Dr. House, can you start teachin' me the harmonica?" Chu-chu looked into his eyes, her eyebrows arched and lips protruding in a begging gesture.

House scrunched his face. He wasn't sure he wanted to get involved with a dying eight year old. It seemed a waste of time to teach her the harmonica when she'd probably be dead soon. House hated wasting his time on useless projects.

Wilson saved the day, "Sorry Chu-chu, but your next batch of antibiotics should be due soon. I bet your Mom is probably looking for you. You need to get back up to Pediatrics."

"Ahhhhhh. Can't I stay with Dr. House? We were gonna watch Dr. Phil together."

House jerked back, "I don't watch Dr. Phil, I watch Ellen."

She whispered back to him, "Shhh. We can talk about that later, I just need to convince him to let me stay."

"No, the antibiotics have to be administered on time, now scoot." Wilson pointed out the door.

Chu-chu's lip stuck out and her face dropped. She turned and looked at House who was giving her a silly grin. She whispered in his ear, "I'll be back later." She kissed his cheek and got off his lap, ran up to Wilson, smiled and then left.

Wilson looked at House, "What was that all about? You're starting to scare me. Either you're hitting on an eight year old or you're growing a heart."

House shook his head in protest, "She's a stalker. I turn around and she's there. She even crawled in my lap! You saw her. She's quite the manipulator."

"Sounds like you've met your match."

"Look at this." House turned the paper around to Wilson.

It was a sheet with words on it; hangman dashes and letters filled in over and over. "What? What am I suppose to see?"

"That kid is eight and she's filling in words like "cognitive", "asteroid", "pulverize","pheromone", "cranium"...she has one hell of a vocabulary for an eight year old. Look at the word she gave me, 'Paleontology.' I don't think that even my vocabulary was that good at that age."

"She's an only child, maybe she spends a lot of time with adults."

"Even so, I quizzed her and she could use each of them in a sentence. This is what she said, 'The mineral laden asteroid headed for Dr. House, striking a blow to his cranium and pulverizing his guts.' That's a direct quote."

"Or a wishful thought."

"Can girls be geniuses?"

"If I don't find her a donor she'll be a dead genius."

**CHAPTER 10**

**UNDER OBSERVATION**

"She's that bad?"

"I think she's got about eighteen months with this new drug trial if we don't find that donor." Wilson was surprised at his friend's reaction. Instead of one of boredom or nonchalance, he seem to register the slightest hint of sadness. Normally Wilson would have welcomed this sign of humanity, except that it did not bode well. If House was feeling something for this little girl, and then she died, it would just reinforce his tendency to not get involved, not care.

"They don't have any money?" House asked.

"No health insurance. It sounds like her Mom almost went bankrupt trying to take care of her. Not an uncommon story these days with our health system."

"What about the father?"

"Not in the picture. Her Mom brought her here to try and find him. She's hoping he's a match or he might have kids that are a match. But they've been here two weeks and haven't found him."

"Hmmm. Bad luck." House said.

"Yeah. I like both of them. They're both down to earth, no pretenses, no frills."

"That little girl is going to be a force of nature when she's older. Ooops, I forgot, we probably don't have to worry about that." House gave an evil grin.

"She's cute isn't she?"

"I hadn't noticed. Well, patients to bill, patients to kill, patients to drive me over the hill. Bye Wilson."

Wilson knew he was being dismissed, "Bye House."

That afternoon when House got back from watching the brain surgery, he saw his harmonica on the desk and the computer turned on to his computer game, but no sign of the Caboose. He smiled, packed up for the day and went home for the evening.

House's apartment was closing in on him. It always did in the winter. It was full of books, music, television, magazines...things that could keep him entertained. Normally, he didn't go out much anyway, even in summer, but winters seemed to suffocate him. It was the idea that he had no choice but to stay in. He hated that. House looked around, grabbed the newest medical journal, put on his reading glasses and read a couple of articles before taking an evening nap on the sofa.

The next morning House waited a minute for Wilson to catch up in the parking lot. House's spot was close to the hospital because of his handicap placard. Wilson was parked in his spot several rows over.

"Good morning." Wilson greeted House with a shiver.

"Damn, it's cold. Hey, what time are you picking me up this afternoon?" House asked.

"I figure if we want to get to Atlantic City for dinner, we should leave around 4:00 pm."

"Okay."

Wilson looked up and saw a Cherokee Jeep with Montana license plates. "Oh, that must be Chu-chu's mother's car. Is that someone in the driver's side? It looks like a cocoon."

"I've got to get inside, I'll talk to you later." House took off, but took a quick look inside the Cherokee Jeep. There was a bundle, obviously a human, leaning against the window. It appeared to be a mummy sleeping bag and a human wrapped inside of it. But he couldn't make out any features. From the slight fogging inside the windows, it was apparent that the person had probably been in the jeep for awhile.

Wilson watched as House took off for inside the hospital. Wilson knocked on the window of the Jeep. The mummy stirred. A small adult hand came out from inside the bundle and pulled the sleeping bag down from a woman's head. Her hair was wild and her eyes hazy as she tried to focus on the person knocking on the window. She rolled down the window.

"What are you doing in there?" Wilson said, slightly agitated.

"Sleeping." She said slowly as she unzipped the bag.

"You stayed out here in the parking lot all night?"

She simply nodded as she pulled the sleeping bag off her body. "I wanted to be near my daughter in case they needed me."

"Why not wait in her room?"

"They booted me. The nurse told me that all visitors had to leave at 8:00 pm." She rolled up the window and then opened the door. Wilson watched as she grabbed her boots, one at a time and put them on. She jumped out of the jeep, locked the door and turned to Wilson, "Have you seen her yet?"

"No, I just got here. Come on, let me buy you a cup of coffee." He could see the swirls of his breath in the cold air and just wanted to get inside. Maddie didn't seem to notice the cold.

Maddie opened the back door and grabbed her little backpack, locked the door and walked inside with Wilson. Wilson was going to tell her that she might want to comb her hair and straighten up. She looked like a homeless person. But then Wilson thought, _She's sleeping in her car, she is homeless. This country's health system drove her to sleeping in her car. This mother is trying hopelessly to save her child and we let her sleep in her car. This sucks._

"Go up and see your daughter and I'll meet you down in the cafeteria in half an hour, okay?"

Maddie nodded. Half an hour later he saw Maddie walk in. Her hair still looked disheveled but she had obviously patted down the wild strands. She smiled at Wilson, "Chu-chu looks good this morning. She's playing with the kid in the next bed. She keeps telling me she has an appointment with Dr. House at ten to learn the harmonica. What's this guy like? I'm a little nervous." They got in the cafeteria line, "I know he's a doctor but he's taken an interest in an eight year old that isn't his patient. Should I be worried? Is he a good influence?"

Wilson winced at the last question and that took Maddie off guard. Wilson could see the worry spring up in her face. He shook his head violently, "No, no, no...not what you're thinking. Come on, let's get you some food and sit down."

"No, just tea."

"No, I think you need some food for energy, my treat." He could see she was going to say no because of the money, "Please, this could be a long story so it would look good if we were eating..."

She laughed, she knew it was just a line so she would buy some food, but he was being so kind she didn't want him to feel bad. She ordered some oatmeal with brown sugar and butter along with a cup of tea. They took a table in the back away from the main pattern of traffic.

"He's brilliant and he's a misanthrope. He's Scrooge in doctor form and for some reason your daughter has latched onto him and won't let go. And for some reason, he's letting her latch on. That's what's strange about all of this. It isn't unusual for kids and women to become attached to him, although I don't know why. It is unusual for House to reciprocate any feelings, whatsoever. His personality isn't touchy feely. When he has allowed someone in close, he gets hurt and so he's put up even more walls. He actively does things to keep people from getting close to him. Your daughter seems to ignore those signals. She's like a bulldozer and he admires that. Plus he thinks she's brilliant."

"We've home-schooled her this last year because of her illness."

"We? I thought you didn't have family."

"I work closely with three friends and we each take an hour out of our day to teach her a different subject. Kevin teaches math, Jack teaches science, Jade teaches History and I cover all the other subjects. She's a sponge. We've had to go back into the school and get sixth grade text books. She's a voracious reader."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a Paleontologist."

Wilson's jaw dropped and then he smiled, "Wow. That's cool. Does Chu-chu go with you when you look for dinosaurs?'

"She lives at the dig site. We have a trailer that we live in out at Hell Creek in Montana. She's grown up eating, breathing and sleeping with dinosaurs and Native American artifacts. She could put together a Triceratops in her sleep."

"So who did you work for?"

"I had a grant from the Montana State University and the Dinotopia Society."

Wilson nodded.

"They're running out though and I'm going to have to figure out what to do next, but I'll deal with that when Chu-chu gets well."

Wilson flinched, the idea of her daughter getting well was remote unless they could find the donor and the money to do the procedure. They talked for awhile. Maddie asked Wilson about his reasons for being an oncologist. What tolls the constant dying around him had taken on him.

"You know, these three divorces may be a product of what you do for a living. If you see a lot of death, it makes every moment on earth seem important. Rather than settle for what you have, even if it is good, it's hard not to keep looking for something to make life even more meaningful, eventful. So you go from one relationship to the next hoping it will make you feel even more alive."

Wilson said nothing, but he secretly hoped that she and House never compared notes on him. They both seem to be a little too close to the truth and that made him feel vulnerable.

"Your daughter is responding well to the antibiotics. We're giving her a unit of blood too. She'll be able to check out this afternoon." Wilson saw her face draw in and her eyes dart as if she was trying to figure something out. He realized she didn't have a place to take her daughter. "Hey, could you do me a favor?"

She looked up surprised, "A favor?"

"I'm going away for the weekend and I just moved into a new apartment. I'd feel better if someone was there while I was gone. Could you and your daughter stay there until I get home on Monday?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Come down to my office and I'll draw you a map. Can you be there at 3:00 pm? I can show you around and get you settled before I leave."

"Dr. Wilson, I know you don't really need anyone to stay there, are you sure?"

"No, really, I do. Of course I want you to stay."

"Thank you. I really want to double my efforts to find her father.'

"What's his name?""

"I don't know all of it..." she stopped as she watched him grab his pager and look at it.

"Sorry, I have to run." he jumped up and started out the door.

"I'll come down to your office later." she said.

Wilson finished his rounds by stopping in to see Chu-chu, but she wasn't there. He went out to the charge desk. "Kerry, where's the patient in 4?"

"House came and got her. They went to get ice cream."

"Her Mom go?"

"No, her Mom got called down to accounting, she's been down there for an hour, I think something must be up with the billing."

Willson nodded, "Thanks." He took the elevator down to the cafeteria.

House and Chu-chu were sitting at a table. Chu-chu was up on her knees on the chair giggling loudly and trying to put her spoon in House's ice cream bowl. House was guarding the bowl with his elbow and shoulder.

"My ice cream, eat your own."

"I just want a taste."

"You're infectious."

"I am not. They're gonna release me today."

"Good. Then you won't be bothering me any more."

"Dr. Wilson says I'll have to come in once a week for the new drug. What's a homeless shelter?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Mom thought I was asleep and I heard her callin' Uncle Jack and she said that we were going to try and get into a homeless shelter so that we could stay in Princeton for this drug. I also heard her say that my Dad probably didn't live here anymore, she hasn't been able to find him."

"What's your Dad's name?"

"Dad."

He smirked, "Don't be funny. What's his name?"

"I don't remember his first name. His last name is Doe. I know he's smart, tall, and he's a doctor."

"He's a doctor? He's got to be licensed, your Mom could find him that way."

"I guess." she shrugged her shoulders. "My Mom says he doesn't know I'm alive, but if he did, he'd love me. Do you think he'd like me?"

"You're pretty annoying. I don't know. Fathers aren't like mothers, they don't have that chemical bonding thing going on...they're more fickle than mothers. But you're okay for a kid. I guess he'd like you."

"Do you?"

"Don't push your luck kid. Eat your ice cream."

Wilson joined them. "You kidnaped her?"

"She wanted ice cream, so did I."

"I just talked to your mother and she'll be down to get you in a few minutes. So what's up?"

"Dr. Wilson, where's the bathroom? I gotta go." Chu-chu started dancing in her seat.

"Just outside and to the right."

She jumped up and ran out the door.

"Okay, House. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing, I was in with my patient and she came strolling in to see me. She asked me if I would take her to get some ice cream. Christ, she's dying, I can buy a dying kid ice cream can't I?" He shook his head and stared intently at Wilson.

"I guess. I'm letting them stay at my apartment this weekend while we're gone."

"That's your problem. Her Dad's a doctor." House said.

"Really? I didn't know that. Why can't they find him?"

"I don't know. The kid doesn't know his name. She says he doesn't know about her."

"Hmm. That would explain the problem of finding him. You better watch it. People are going to say that you're going soft."

"Just an experiment. She's bright, I want to see what a genius child does with the fact that she's dying. You have to ask yourself, does she believe in God? Does she go into denial? Does she go through all the seven steps?"

Wilson was horrified, "You aren't treating this kid as one of your little experiments are you?" When he saw the blank look on House's face he was angry, "You're just befriending her so you can _observe her while she dies_?"

"What's wrong with that? She's going to die anyway, why not observe how she deals with it?"

"You're a sick SOB." Wilson jumped up and walked towards the door as Chu-chu was coming in. He grabbed her hand and they exchanged words. House watched as Chu-chu argued and pointed at House. Wilson stomped over, grabbed her bowl of ice cream, gave House the evil eye and left with Chu-chu.

House walked over, put his bowl on the conveyor and left.

**CHAPTER 11**

**THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY?**

Later, around 1:00 pm, House went into Wilson's office. He was surprised to see Chu-chu reading on the couch. Her face lit up when he walked in.

"Howdy Dr. House!"

"Hey Caboose."

Wilson's body stiffened and he pretended to focus on the paperwork in front of him, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know if you had a cooler for drinks on the way down?"

"Yeah." Wilson dropped his pen and gave House a dirty look.

"Dr. House, my Mom and I are going to stay at Dr. Wilson's while he's gone. Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah, where is your Mom?"

Wilson looked at House, "She needed to check out something and I told her I'd watch Chu-chu until she got back."

Chu-chu was annoyed with all the secrecy, "She thinks she may have found my Dad in Trenton so she's gone to check it out."

Wilson sighed in frustration.

"Doesn't your Mom work?" House asked.

"Yeah, she works. She works hard. Harder than you."

"Is she a maid?"

Chu-chu looked at him with her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed, "NO! My mom's a famous Paleontologist. She's a doctor in Paleontology and Archeology. She works with Uncle Jack, Jack Benson."

House sat down and chuckled. "Paleontologist? A dinosaur doctor? I met one once. We slept together, well slept isn't quite the right word. She was a doctor in Paleon..." House looked up, his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly open in shock.

Wilson glanced up. His eyes went wide, his eyes darted from House to Chu-chu and beads of sweat formed on his brow. House watched Wilson turn white. Wilson stood up, stared at House, opened his mouth to speak, looked over at Chu-chu and sat down again. House's legs were jelly, he was sweating and chills ran down his spine.

"What's wrong with you two?" Chu-chu asked.

"You're eight?" House asked. He didn't remember the woman's name but he remembered what she looked like, "Is your Mom about this tall?" Both Wilson and Chu-chu nodded. "Does she have blonde hair...short hair?" They both nodded again in unison. "Does she have freckles?" The same nod.

Wilson got up. "Chu-chu, I'm taking you next door and you can read with Dr. Cameron."

Chu-chu was looking back and forth between the two of them, "Dr. House, do you know my Mom?"

"I may have met her once. I don't know for sure. Has she ever been to San Diego?"

"I don't know."

"Let's go kiddo." Wilson escorted Chu-chu next door and then joined House back in his office.

"Please don't tell me that you had sex with this Paleontologist about nine years ago?"

House was looking away thinking, but manage a small nod.

"But you were with Stacey then. You cheated on Stacey?"

He shrugged and nodded again. "The odds are that I'm not her father."

"Yeah, right. Let's see, father is a doctor, doesn't know she's alive, from Princeton and the little girl just happens to be the spitting image of you. Every time I see you with her I think to myself that if you had kids they's look like Chu-chu. To top it off, she's so much like you it's uncanny." House watched Wilson practically fall apart in front of him. "You need to take a DNA test right away."

"Why?"

Wilson jumped up and yelled at him, "You may be a donor, you idiot. You might be able to save your daughter's life!"

"Don't yell at me, we don't know that she' s my daughter."

"I'm getting a DNA test kit." Wilson jumped up and left leaving House to think. House jumped up and went next door. He studied Chu-chu through the glass. _Look at her read. She's so absorbed in whatever it is she's doing. Redish brown hair, blue eyes, smart, maybe, maybe. I can't let myself think about this yet._

He swung through the doors and she jumped up. "Dr. House, Dr. Cameron says you play piano and guitar too. I can play a little guitar! I told her you were going to teach me to play harmonica. You wouldn't also play violin would you? My Dad plays violin."

House shook his head but said nothing. He felt a little nervous, light headed. He took his cane and went into his office to sit down. She burst through the door. "Are we going to start now?" She squealed in delight.

The magnitude of it started to sink in. He gritted his teeth and slammed his hand down on his desk, "Just leave me alone. Just...leave me alone."

Chu-chu backed out of the room her eyes downcast and her bottom lip protruding and quivering. She opened the door and ran off down the hall.

Wilson came back with the two kits and handed one to House, "Here, I'll get Chu-chu's sample." he looked around, "Where is she?"

"I don't know, she ran out and down the hall."

Wilson was nervous, "What did you say to her?"

"I just told her to leave me alone." House took the lid off of the test kit and pulled out the cheek swab."

"I've got to go find her." Wilson took off.

House waited and twenty minutes later Wilson showed up, "I can't find her."

"Damn." House got up. "Where have you looked?"

"I told security to look for her, but she's not up in peds, my office, down in clinic or the cafeteria. Where do you think she went and how do I tell her mother that you lost her?"

House grabbed his cane, went out into the hall and started to think. "Have you checked the roof?"

"Security did."

House thought again; trying to think where he would go, "I know where she is." He took off with Wilson in tow. They went down to the basement and walked down two corridors until they reached a large room marked, "Medical Library."

He opened the door and looked at the librarian. "Dr. House, Wilson, are you looking for a young lady?"

They nodded. She pointed to an area behind some stacks. Wilson and House went past the rows of books and saw a foot on the floor behind a desk. They peaked around and there was Chu-chu, an anatomy book by her side, crying.

House looked down at her, "Come on, stand up. Dr. Wilson has to run another test. Open your mouth."

"I hate you."

"I've heard that before; can't you be original?" House pulled her up by the hand and she continued to pout. Wilson took the swab of her cheek cells.

"Okay, get her back up to your office. I'll turn these in and be up too."

"Come on Caboose." House took her hand. She pulled it out of his.

"Gimp. You know in Montana we'd shoot you and put you out of your misery."

"If it meant I didn't have to deal with you, it'd be worth it."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 12**

**THE GENETICS OF HEALTH CARE**

On my way back to the hospital I finally admitted to myself that I was never going to find her father. I had gone through most of our money and my hope trying to find Greg Doe. I had managed to meet several doctors who had the first or middle name, "Gregory," but not my Greg. When Chu-chu and I went to see Dr. Wilson in his office, I noticed right away that there was a Gregory House, M.D. in the office next to him, it must have been the Greg I had my list to check out. I stopped in later and talked to the two doctors sitting in the adjacent office. One was a woman, the other an African-American.

"Hi, I'm new in town, but I think I might know Dr. House, could you describe him for me?"

"You'd know him, he walks with a very bad limp. Always carries a cane. Has a beard. Rather mean and irreverent." the African-American doctor told me.

"Oh, no, that doesn't sound like him." The Greg I knew was healthy, had no handicaps. He was clean shaven when we met, which, granted, could change. But the guy I met wasn't mean or irreverent. He was just funny. Thanks anyway." I left the office. _Besides this Greg is a diagnostician, not an infectious disease specialist. I can cross him off my list._

I spent the next few days trying to figure out what I was doing or going to do. Dr. Wilson had been a God send. I liked him a lot. I think I would have flirted with him in another life, but it's hard to flirt with anyone when your child is sick.

Chu-chu was enamored with this Dr. House and I have to say, I was worried. After the description by the doctors in his office and by Dr. Wilson, he didn't seem to be a very pleasant man. But I trusted Dr. Wilson and he said House was harmless, so I didn't stop her from seeing him. Chu-chu frequently latches on to a male figure, one she sees as father material and won't let go. Poor Jack and Kevin have been the objects of her affection from time to time. She transferred it one summer to a tourist named Michael Hanson, who had come out on one of those fantasy tours– 'Spend a month on a dinosaur dig." The tourists get to do the grunt work and we get free help. The only thing annoying was the little lectures we had to give on safety and preservation of the dig. He had long fingers and played the violin. She kept asking him if he liked women who wore cowboy boots and were smart. The poor guy saw right through her and finally admitted to her that he was gay.

Our trip money was rapidly running out. The gas for the jeep was costing a fortune. The two weeks at the Howard Johnson had eaten up over half of what I had brought and then the food bill was killing me too. I was trying not to eat unless I could scrounge something for free. I frequently stole left over fruit off the patient trays and occasionally stopped in at the soup kitchen nearby. I wasn't proud. When you're trying to save your child, you'll stoop to just about anything.

I was relieved when Dr. Wilson checked Chu-chu into the hospital. It meant a warm bed and food for several days while I looked for her Dad. I slept in the Jeep for a couple of nights and washed in the doctor's lounge. I was trying to find a homeless shelter when Dr. Wilson offered his home. That was great, it gave me more time to think.

Dr. Wilson had agreed to watch Chu-chu for a couple of hours while I drove to Trenton to check a doctor out. I had talked to one of the nurses in the Peds ward and she told me that she had worked for a David Gregory Piccard in Trenton and he had pretty blue eyes. I was excited, thinking I had found him. But when I got down to Trenton, he was far too young and too short to be my Greg.

I decided to stay in Princeton to keep Chu-chu on the new drug Dr. Wilson was testing. It was her best chance to stay alive while she waited for a donor. I told Jack and he understood, he told me not to worry about my grant, he would oversee my small staff. The support of my friends was the only thing I had to hang on to as I fell further into the abyss. I can't tell you how many times I cried when Chu-chu wasn't around. I was starting to run out of hope.

I had just gotten back from Trenton when I walked into Dr. Wilson's office. Sitting on the sofa was my daughter, Dr. Wilson was at his desk and I could see the back of a man sitting in front of the desk with a cane in his hand.

"Dr. Wilson, am I interrupting anything?" I asked.

He motioned for me to come in and as he did, the man turned around. I took one look at his blue eyes and long face and collapsed into the other chair, my head swimming and my heart racing. Dr. Wilson looked at him and he nodded at Wilson.

My voice was hardly a whisper, "My God, it's you."

"Yep, it's me. Greg House."

I looked back and forth between my daughter and her father and there was no denying she was his daughter. They looked so much alike. Chu-chu looked very worried.

"Mom, you look sick. Are you okay?"

I tried to compose myself, "Yeah honey, I just had a long day."

"You know Dr. House?"she asked.

"Yes, we met a long time ago."

"In San Diego?"

House pulled his head back and stared at Chu-chu. I stared at Greg. _How does she know we met in San Diego?_

He obviously saw my look and shrugged his shoulders.

Chu-chu saw everyone's surprise and said, "Dr. House just wanted to know if you had ever been to San Diego."

"Yes, we met in San Diego." I tried to give my daughter a light hearted smile.

"Chu-chu, let's go next door for a minute, I need to talk to Dr. Foreman and he hasn't met you."

They left and I was alone with Dr. House. I wasn't sure what I was suppose to say to him or if I should wait for his lead. I'm pretty outspoken, some say too outspoken, but I wasn't sure in this case how I should approach the subject.

He looked at me. "I'm not complaining, but I'm curious, why didn't you try to find me before?"

"Why? I didn't know who you were. We were fine without you. I never saw a need for disrupting your life. She was a joy to me, but I wasn't sure if you would share that feeling."

"Are you sure she's mine?"

I had to laugh at this. They looked like two peas in a pod. "I have no doubt. I wasn't dating or seeing anyone at that time. I'm afraid you were my only sexual encounter that year."

House looked down at his hands and then back up at me, "We've already sent her DNA to be tested, we should have it back by Monday."

"Once you confirm she's your daughter would you please get tested to see if you can be a donor?" I asked, no, my voice was begging.

"I've already pulled blood and sent it over to be tested."

I started crying. I had a hard time getting the words out, "Thank you." I took a deep breath, "Do you have any children that might agree to be tested?"

He smiled and chuckled, "No, at least I don't think I have any other children. But then, I didn't know about Chu-chu." He frowned and shook his head, "Why did you name her Chu-chu?"

I named her Chumani. Jack, Kevin and Jade kept calling her Chu-chu when she was a toddler."

"Chumani, is that some African lingo for smart ss?"

"Dr. House, that's my daughter you're making fun of and Chumani is Sioux for dewdrop."

Wilson came back into the room, "Did House tell you that he was being tested as a donor?"

"Yes." I turned to House, "Thanks again."

"Don't thank me. We don't know if I am going to be a match."

"I know."

Wilson was sitting looking at House, "Well, House, how does it feel to be a father?"

"Wilson, shut up."

Wilson looked at him and then it hit him like a lead balloon. "House, you need to register your daughter with H.R.!"

"What?"

"If you register her as your daughter, she goes on your medical insurance."

I looked at Dr. House and I felt hopeful for the first time in ages. Dr. House looked at me and nodded. "On Tuesday after we get the DNA, I'll add her to my medical insurance."

I started sobbing, "Oh God, oh God, thank you God." I stopped and looked at Dr. Wilson, "What does this mean?"

Wilson grinned, "It means that your daughter will receive the best of care and that her bone marrow transfer will be paid for."

I know I sounded like some wounded animal, I started sobbing so hard. I was so happy and relieved and desperate.

Dr. Wilson looked at me, "There is a chance that Dr. House isn't the father."

I laughed, "Dr. Wilson just take one more look at my daughter's eyes and tell me you believe that he's not her father."

Wilson chuckled, "You're right, I've thought right from the beginning that they looked alike. Well, why don't you follow me over to my apartment and I can get you settled before House and I take off."

I smiled and stood up. House looked up at me and said, "If there is any change in her condition, call Wilson, not me."

I went over to get Chu-Chu. We walked out to the car and I took out the mapquest directions to Dr. Wilson's place. She smiled up at me, "Do you like Dr. House? Are you going to marry him?"

"No! Chumani Dr. House and I are not getting married, ever. Do you understand? You have to promise me that you won't bring that up again. Okay?"

She looked down and her lips protruded, "Okay. But you do know him, right?"

"Yes."

"And you like him, right?"

"Yes, I like him." I lied. I wasn't really sure I liked him. His last line about calling Dr. Wilson, not him, was cold.

"I'm just thinking maybe he could come and see us in Montana."

"Maybe honey."

**CHAPTER 13**

**THE LIFE OF RILEY**

We arrived at Dr. Wilson's apartment and I was immediately struck by the nice view of the lake. The apartment was horizontally laid out. You walked into the entry and immediately to your left was the formal dining area and to the left of it was the entrance to the kitchen with a pass through section so that you could see a little into the kitchen counter area. On the right was the living room area about twenty feet by twenty feet and then a door to the bedroom. The bedroom consisted of a sleeping area that looked out on the view. It was about fifteen by fifteen with a master bathroom and closet off of it. Almost the entire west wall of the apartment overlooked the lake and had twelve foot picture windows and a sliding glass door leading out to a balcony.

We felt pampered. I hadn't stayed in an apartment this nice in years. We followed Dr. Wilson, who had now asked us both to call him Jim, through the apartment as he showed us how to work the TIVO, television, intercom and kitchen equipment. Most of these electronics my daughter had never seen in her sheltered existence. Wilson grabbed his bags, left us his cell number, took one look at us and said, "This has been one of the strangest days in my life" and left.

I knew what he meant, but poor Chu-chu was terribly confused. "He doesn't have women over? Is that what's so strange?"

"Not sure honey."

I didn't want to use any of Jim's food so we went and bought some groceries. I sprung for some celebratory sodas and popcorn, which we popped, and then sat back to watch television almost all weekend long. We did go down and watch some ice skaters, but for the most part, we cuddled under some throws and stayed inside. It was great sleeping in a bed that was comfortable and an apartment that stayed warm. Our little trailer was pretty windy during the winter and we stayed permanently in sweaters, thermals and blue jeans while we were home.

My daughter was acting like the lady of luxury, she smiled and walked through the apartment pretending to be a movie star. She signed autographs and laid down on the new suede couch like a queen with servants. "Mom, I need one of those long robes and turbans so I can look more like a queen."

"I'll just whip out to the Queen store and pick them up for you. Should I bring back a prince too?"

"Only if he doesn't mind hospitals."

There were still boxes around that Jim had told us had been there since he moved in two months ago. Chu-chu and I decided to make the house really nice for him for when he got back. We found some lovely pieces of art and vases in his boxes. So we carefully unpacked them. I put the personal things away in the closet for him to go through later. Then I went to the store and bought picture hooks. Chu-chu and I hung the art and decorated with what he had. It really did make the place look more like a home than a hospital waiting room.

On Sunday, we went down to the homeless shelter and I could see my daughter recoil from the thought of living with all these people, some of whom were smelly and obviously mentally unstable. But we were told that we could get a room with another mother and daughter the next night. So I agreed and signed up. I knew I had to get a job soon so that my daughter didn't have to live in a homeless shelter. But for now, we had no choice if we wanted to stay in Princeton on the trial drug.

We were expected to do clean-up duties. We had to clean the bathrooms in the shelter once a day and help serve and clean up after one meal each day. Curfew was 9:00 pm and the doors were locked between 10 am and 4 pm. There was an onsite school for kids which Chu-chu would be expected to attend.

I could see my daughter's face absorb all of this and although she wanted to scream and moan, she didn't. I think she knew that I was trying my best to keep us together as a family unit. Chu-chu was aware of how much we had spent on trying to cure her and I think she bit her tongue out of love for me. I was already feeling desperate and a failure, one word of complaint from her and I would have lost it.

On Monday, we got up and cleaned up Jim's apartment, baked some chocolate chip cookies and packed what few things we had in anticipation of his arrival home. At 3:00 pm he arrived and we greeted him like a rock star much to his amazement.

"Whooppp, whooop, Jim is home!! Hallelujah, he has returned!!" I yelled.

Chu-chu was dancing and chanting, "Okay, alright...Jim's back,it's tight...Jim's back, it's sweet...our day's, complete."

"Thank you!" He put his bags down and looked around while Chu-chu ran into the kitchen to get him cookies and milk. She bounced out to the living room smiling broadly.

"We made these for your return and to thank you for a great weekend." she put them on the table and then hugged him.

"Thank you Chu-chu, they smell great."

"We did the laundry, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the bedding and made your bed for you. We hope you like the decorating. Your personal box of things are in your bedroom closet." I said.

"I didn't expect you to do this. Thank you."

"We'll leave, but first we'd like to know if you had a good time."

"I won about five hundred and House won several thousand so it was one of our best trips down there." He hung up his jacket, "You don't have to run."

"No, we know how we feel after traveling. We'll get out of your hair." I said.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I was going to make up a motel but my lovely daughter's mouth engaged, "St. Vincent de ..." I had my hand firmly over her mouth and was shaking my head.

"She's joking, we've got a motel room at the Red Rooster near Trenton." But I could see he wasn't buying it; mainly because my daughter looked so bewildered. She made me look like the big fat liar I was.

"Maddie, you aren't going to a ..." he looked sad.

"No, no, no...we're on our way right now to the Red Rooster." I had seen a dozen Red Rooster motels on our trip to Princeton and was hoping Trenton had one so he wouldn't be suspicious. "Uh, when do you think we can come in for the results of the tests?"

"How about 9:30 tomorrow morning? They're probably back today, but I should look at them first."

"Great, we'll be there." I went over and gave him a platonic hug of thanks, "Jim thank you for the best weekend we've had in a long time!" I smiled down at my daughter who was giving Jim a very enthusiastic nod.

She hugged him with gusto, "You're the best doctor and the best friend. Thanks."

He looked a little shell shock, like he didn't know what to do or say. We grabbed our stuff and left.

We arrived at the homeless shelter and checked in at 4:00 pm. We were shown our room. It was painted institutional sea green, a darker green on the bottom half with a lighter version on top. The white Venetian blinds did nothing to enhance the decor. It had two sets of metal bunkbeds and two sets of metal dresser drawers, one which was ours, and a closet on both sides of the room. The beds had army blankets and clean sheets. The room smelled like dirty socks, which judging from the dirty clothes laying on the floor, I could tell why. A few minutes after our arrival a woman and her teenage daughter came in. They eyed us like we were from outer space.

"Hi, I'm Maddie and this is Chu-chu." I stuck out my hand and gave a nice smile.

The woman was big, not fat, although she could lose twenty pounds and be healthier, and her daughter took after her. They eyed us like the enemy and refused to shake my hand.

"I'm Cassie and that's Ona. We sleep on this side of the room, you get that side. Do you snore?"

"I don't think so." I answered.

"Well, we didn't like the last two who stayed with us. We ended up in an altercation." The word "altercation" was said as if she had picked it up from a police blotter somewhere in her past.

"Well, I hope we can all be friends." My daughter and I were definitely smaller than these two women. But I wasn't afraid, I tended to speak my mind, but I had few enemies. My daughter, on the other hand, not only spoke her mind, but had a slightly ornery streak and could frequently piss someone off if she wanted. I just prayed she'd keep her mouth shut for once.

We sat down on the bottom bunk and I looked at my daughter, very cognizant of the difference that twelve hours had made in our accommodations. When I saw the look of disappointment on her little face, I gave her the most reassuring hug I could.

We unpacked and went down to the television room, watched what everyone else was watching and then went to dinner at 5:00 pm with everyone else.

Before my daughter got sick, I was considered a pretty calm, steady, no-nonsense person. I'm known for surviving and being the glue that holds things together. I survived my mother's death when I was twelve. At thirteen, I managed when my father ran off with a twenty-five year old someone, leaving me with my uncle and his wife. I made my own way through college, managed to get myself hired by Jack and build a life. My daughter was the one thing I hadn't planned on. I hadn't planned on loving anything as much as I love her. In the last two years, I've cried more than I have in all my life combined. I feel out of control, unable to be the glue to _put her _back together. This shelter just made me feel even more out of control.

**CHAPTER 15**

**WINNING THE GENE POOL**

James Wilson hadn't enjoyed the Atlantic City weekend until he started winning Saturday night. He had argued with House the entire way to the hotel about his daughter.

"So are you so keen to watch her die now?" Wilson asked.

"She's going to die anyway, being my daughter doesn't change that."

"You might be a donor match."

House gave Wilson a look of condescension, "My chances aren't that good and you know that.'

"They're better than the average population. Who knows what could happen? At least you could spend the last few months of your daughter's life getting to know her.'

"Why?"

Wilson's stomach curdled and he shuddered at the heartlessness of House's response. "Because she's your daughter."

"But I don't KNOW her, she's been a stranger for eight years. Why would I want to form a bond with her if she's going to die? That doesn't make sense."

"Because she needs your help."

"I'll get her on my medical insurance, do what I can for her medically." He looked at Wilson, "I know a pretty good Oncologist. I'll do what I can."

"You'll do what's convenient. Don't you have any feelings?"

"Listen to what you're asking me to do. You want me to get close to a little girl who has, at best, eighteen months to live, so that when she dies I'll feel like crap."

"Because it's the right thing to do." Wilson argued.

"Why?"

"Because she's your _daughter_, she deserves to know her Dad and to be loved. She didn't choose to be here. You created her."

He raised his voice slightly, "Her mother could have aborted her but decided not to...I can't help it if she decided to raise a child on her own."

"So, because you would have aborted her, you're just going to keep her at arm's length so that you don't get hurt in the end."

"Something like that."

Wilson shook his head, wanting to say more, but feeling both angry and sad at the same time. He ate the words that were forming and kept driving. There were times when he really didn't like his friend. Right about now, he really hated him.

House was shifting in the seat and looking out the window. They rode most of the trip in silence. They split up on the casino floor and, after not speaking to each other for most of the day, they barely shared enough words between them to decide where to have dinner. Things began to thaw between them when House asked Wilson what her best chances were for survival.

"Bone marrow donation or core blood donation. If you're not a match, we wait and see if she gets a match on the registry."

House shook his head. "This new drug can keep her alive that long?"

"I'm getting good results with it. As long as we can keep her from getting an infection that wipes her out, we have a good shot at keeping her alive that long."

House nodded.

That night both Wilson and House started to win back their losses and by the time they met up for a drink, they were both in the black and happier. Wilson began talking to his friend again and by the end of the weekend, they were laughing and teasing each other. It was only as they got closer to Princeton that the conversation died. Wilson barely said goodbye when he dropped House off.

Around 5 pm the phone rang. House looked at the caller I.D. and saw, 'James Wilson,' pop up. A bored sounding House said, "This better be good I just sat down with a porn magazine and a free hand."

"I just checked the results at the hospital. Congratulations, you're a Dad."

House felt heavy with disappointment. His life would be easier and less complicated if the results were negative. He said very calmly and without emotion, "I'll deal with the paperwork tomorrow. I'll get her on my insurance."

"You should know that your daughter just went to live in a homeless shelter." There was silence, "Did you hear me House? _A homeless shelter!_ A homeless shelter while her father sits in his warm apartment watching his LCD television and drinking his $100 a bottle single malt whiskey."

House looked at the glass in his hand filled with the amber liquid and cursed under his breath. Wilson knew him too well. "What the hell am I suppose to do?" There was a loud click on the other end. House slammed his receiver down, "Damn him. Damn her."

House thought about what it all meant and whether he should do something about it. It was 5 pm, he decided that one night in a homeless shelter wouldn't hurt. As the night went on House had a hard time paying attention to the programs he was watching. At midnight he got up and went to bed. At 1:00 am he got up and grabbed a glass of water. He looked at the window, frozen and frosted. It was nice and warm in his apartment. He turned around and went back to bed but every hour on the hour he looked at the clock, wishing he could fall asleep. At 8:00 am he got up, showered and went into work.

Wilson walked into House's office with a cup of coffee, sat across from him at the desk, "They're coming in at 9:30 am to get the results and sign her up." House just nodded. They shared some hospital gossip and then Wilson went back to his office.

At 9:30 am a little face peered in through the glass door while House was busy reading the newspaper. He felt a smile cross his face, but did his best to hide it.

Her little voice called out, "Dr. House? It's me, Chu-chu. You remember me, don't ya?"

House snorted and looked up over his reading glasses, "It's only been three days. I don't have dementia. Of course I remember you. Where's your Mom?"

"She went to Dr. Wilson's office. I asked if I could come and see you." She sailed through the door and towards his desk, "Did you have fun this weekend? I heard you won some money."

He nodded yes. "Where are you living?"

She wrinkled her nose, "A shelter. It smells funny. Kinda like pee and old shoes. But I get the top bunk. That's fun bein' close to the ceilin'. But Cassie snores."

"Try one train of thought at a time. Where are you living?"

"St. Vincent de Paul's. We share a room with Cassie and her daughter. They don't like us. I don't know why. All we did was move in. They make us leave the room and the shelter by 10 am, but then we get to go back at 4pm. It's not too bad. Except I had to help Mom clean the bathrooms this mornin'. People are pigs."

House doubled his fist and quietly hit the desk and said, under his breath, "Sh!t.'

"I heard that! That's a bad word Dr. House and God doesn't like bad words."

House looked up, "You believe in God?"

"Of course silly!"

"Why?"

"Because of all the good things I have. I've got Jack, Jade, Kevin, and my Mom takin' care of me. And God gave me a Dad who was smart so that I'd be smart. I've got big blue eyes like my Dad too. My Mom told me that I hit the jackpot when it came to brains and looks, thanks to my Dad."

"How do you know you got your brains from your Dad? Your Mom must be smart."

"She is, she's very smart. But she always tells me that my Dad is a doctor and that's how come I'm so smart. And he plays the violin which is why I'm musical."

House squinted, "What about your illness? Do you believe God gave you that?"

She thought a minute and her face turned to disappointment, "Yeah, I think he did. But, I have a theory. I think I was put here on earth just long enough to be with my Mom, friends and enemies and teach them whatever lessons I was sent to teach...and to learn whatever lessons I was meant to learn. Don't tell my Mom, but I don't think I'm gonna make it to my ninth birthday. I think I'll be with God by then. I've probably learned enough and taught enough down here. I just wish I could of had a boyfriend before I died."

She said it so calmly, so maturely, that House was taken aback. She had accepted, and was living with, her mortality with more aplomb than an adult. He wanted to hug her and give her back the life that was draining away from her. But, he stayed in his chair. He looked her straight in the eye as she sat in the chair across from him, "Chu-chu, I'm your father. We just found out yesterday."

She grinned and then ran around the desk and into his arms. "I'm so happy! I always wanted to meet my Daddy. I wanted him to be like you. I wanted him to_be _you." She smothered him with kisses on his face. He wanted to pull away from the affection, but stayed still so that she could continue to shower him with kisses and hugs. He finally put his arms around her and hugged her back, causing his heart to implode and his eyes to well up. He wanted to run, run to his car, drive to his apartment and lock the door. He didn't want her in his life; he didn't want these feelings in his heart. He hated her with every fiber of his body. He hated what she was going to do to his life.

Wilson and Maddie walked in. Maddie's mouth dropped when she saw her daughter in the arms of this man exchanging unabashed affection, "You told her! You told her without my permission or my presence? What right do you have to make that decision for my daughter?"

"Her right as her father." House stared directly and forcefully into Maddie's eyes.

"No, you don't get those rights until you've been a real father."

"Is that my fault?"

"No, but you've also managed to live the last eight years in your blissful ignorance without hindrance of what it means to be a father. So from now on, you come to me if you have something important to tell my daughter."

House was going to say something sarcastic, but he looked down at Chu-chu's face and saw the distress that the arguing was causing her. House held his tongue and gave Chu-chu a quick smile. He looked back at Maddie, "Let's go get her enrolled."

"Enrolled? Am I enrolling in school here at the hospital?" Chu-chu asked.

"No, you're going to be put on my health insurance as my daughter. It means that you can afford all the procedures once we find a donor for you."

She hugged him again. "Mommy! Did you hear that?"

Maddie nodded and smiled, "Isn't that great?"

"I might live!" She said it so brightly, so full of hope, that everyone in the room winced and then gave her the best smile that they could manage.

They marched down to the Human Resource Office and House went up to the counter. "I need to add a dependent to my insurance."

The short, plump, woman, Kathy, who knew Gregory House well, simply said stupefied, "You have dependents?"

"Apparently."

She pulled out the form, "Wife?"

"Child, long lost child."

"You're scaring me House. You mean there's someone out there with your genes?" She looked down at the little girl that had just entered and said, "Oh my God, she looks just like you, except she's pretty."

Chu-chu smiled broadly, "He's my Dad, he's a doctor, has long fingers, plays the piano and likes sluts!"

Kathy's mouth dropped open and she blinked, not sure she had heard right.

"The insurance is good from today, right?" House asked.

"For a child, yes." Kathy nodded.

"Great." He signed her up, gave them a copy of the DNA report and it was done.

"We'll fax it into the insurance company today."

House turned around and said to Maddie, "Can I have a word with you?"

"Honey, can you go sit over there so I can talk to Dr. House."

"Daddy." she corrected.

House flushed at the sound of that word. Chu-chu ran over to a chair and picked up a Highlights magazine.

He was watching Chu-chu, "I need to know what else you want from me?"

"What else I want?"

"Yeah. You know, are you going to sue for back child support, hit me up for a house or something like that?"'

She took a step back from House in horror. Her mouth opened slightly and her forehead wrinkled, "I don't want anything else from you except your help in saving her life. If you're a match, I hope you'll donate your marrow. I don't want your money Dr. House – I want our daughter to live."

He looked down and then at her with a sneer, "Call me Greg. You did in San Diego." House received a text page, "Wilson wants us. The results must be back."

"I don't want Chu-chu there. If it's negative, I don't want her to see me. I don't think I can take much more disappointment when it comes to this disease."

"You know that it's most likely that I'm not going to match."

"Yes, but I'm still forever the optimist."

He smirked, "I remember that. You're the optimist and I'm the pessimist." he waved at Chu-chu to come over to him, "I'll get Cameron to watch her."

Cameron was in the clinic and so House stuck his head into the exam room, "This is take your boss's daughter to work day. Cameron, you've already met my daughter, Chu-chu, she's going to hang with you for the next hour."

"What? Daughter?" Cameron was staring in disbelief.

"Yes. And I'll tell you later. For now, watch her – actually, she'll watch you. She's smart so don't b.s. her." House smiled at the man sitting on the exam table, pushed Chu-chu through the door and left.

He walked up to Maddie and they went to the second floor. She had her eyes closed as they opened the door to his office. House knew the answer the second he saw Wilson. Maddie opened her eyes, took one look at his face and started to sob. She turned and grabbed onto House's shirt as she started to loose her bearings. He held her and let her cry into his chest.

"I'm sorry, he's a closer match than you, but still not close enough to do the transfer. We're going to have to wait for the registry to find someone to match. You just have to keep your faith." Wilson was extremely upset, his voice waivering. He wanted desperately to save House's daughter.

Maddie sniffed, "She has less than a 20 chance of finding someone on the registry in five years, much less in eighteen months. My hope is just about out."

Wilson received a page. "I'm sorry but I have an emergency. Take your time, use my office." Wilson ran out.

House said nothing, no platitudes, no encouraging words. When Maddie was able to get her breath, she looked up at House with determination, "You asked me what I wanted? I'll tell you. I promise to forgo all back child support, future child support, contact, anything you ask for, anything, if you'll do one thing for our daughter."

House was pretty sure that he wasn't going to like what she was going to ask for. She was giving up a lot and would be expecting a lot in return. "I'll bite, what do you want?"

"I want you to get me pregnant."

House's eyes grew wide and he let go of her. "You're joking? You've got to be joking."

"Listen to me. Once Chu-chu gets well, I'll be able to afford to raise two kids. I have a good resume. I'm well known in the Paleontology world. I've written several well received articles. Jack will recommend me for a lot of positions and I have no debts as of now. I've gone though everything I own, but I've still got good credit. I know I can do it. If you get me pregnant, then we can use the core blood from the umbilical cord to save her life. It's very likely that the baby would make a good match and I promise you won't have to have any contact with either one of them. I promise, no support, no contact, no strings. I'll make sure. You can go back to your life."

House was quiet. He was staring at the floor with his hand combing back his hair. He hated the pain in her voice, the begging for her daughter's life. He felt the weight of Chu-chu's life in his hands. Once again he hated her with every fiber in his body. This was just what he feared.

Create another problem to solve this one? Is that wise? What about the registry? There was still a chance. "I can't. We'd just be creating another problem to solve this one."

She took in a quick, sharp breath and then started to whimper, nodding in agreement through the pain. "I understand. If you change your mind I'm a week away from ovulating. It's possible I'm too old anyway. But please think about it." She went to the door, swallowed hard, wiped her tears, "How bad do I look?"

"Pretty bad. You're not going to fool her."

"I know. But at least she won't see how utterly hopeless I really am. I can keep it together that much for her. Thanks for being tested, thanks for the medical insurance. I think we'll go now."

"Where should I send the card?"

"What card?" she asked.

"Her medical insurance card when it comes."

"Oh, um...call me and we'll pick it up when we come in for the weekly injection by Jim."

"Okay." House sighed heavily, "I'm sorry that I'm not a match."

"I am too."

She took off, leaving House to sit and think about Chu-chu and her mother. He had to admit, he liked them both.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 16**

**GUILT MONEY**

I didn't expect him to say yes. He was right, making another baby would be substituting one problem for another. But in my heart I knew I could handle raising another child. I didn't think I could handle losing this one. He was a strange man. There were times he seemed so cold and distant, others where he seemed human and caring. I frankly couldn't remember why I had slept with him. Maybe having the leg problem had turned him into an angry, bitter man. I didn't know. All I knew was that I wanted Chu-chu to have limited contact with him. I didn't want her to know what a jerk her father really was.

I went to the clinic and found Chu-chu and Cameron in Exam room 4. Chu-chu was listening to Cameron's heart. I liked Cameron, she was kind to Chu-chu. "Hi. Thanks for putting up with her."

As soon as Cameron saw me her face turned serious, "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying."

Chu-chu looked at me and then sadly said to Cameron, "It means that my Dad isn't a match."

I looked down and away from my daughter so that I could keep from crying.

Cameron was curious, but careful about our feelings. She asked very softly, "Match?"

Chu-chu looked at Cameron, "I need a bone marrow transfer or I'll die soon. AML."

Cameron's eyes registered shock, "Oh...I...Are you on the registry?"

"For over a year." Chu-chu answered.

I couldn't say anything because I could feel the emotions swirling and ready to explode once again. I choked and said to Chu-chu, "Let's go honey. Thanks again Dr. Cameron."

We left. We couldn't go back to our room until 4:00 pm so I decided to take her for a walk around the lake.

"Was I right Mom? Daddy didn't match did he?"

"No honey, he's not a match."

She squeezed my hand, "There's always the registry."

"Yep. You're right. At least we're one big step towards it. We have it paid for thanks to your Dad." I've always been steady, capable, calm in storms. But since Chu-chu became sick I kept feeling all of that being chipped away from me, exposing every feeling and emotion I had in my body like a stripped wire. I hated that, at times, it had to be my sick daughter who kept our spirits up.

"You don't like my Daddy, do you?"

"I like him enough. He's helping you. I like him for that."

"How did you meet?"

_Oh no, she's going to ask and ask until she finds out her mother was a slut and knew her father less than two hours before jumping into bed with him. If I tell her a lie, she'll know. I'm going to have to paint this in the best way._

"Let's get somewhere warm and talk." We drove over to the shopping mall and went inside. I found a bench as far from the foot traffic as possible.

"I was in San Diego for a symposium. Remember that symposium I went to last year? Well, it was at the first one in San Diego. I was waiting for a friend at a restaurant and your father was sitting nearby. My friend didn't show up so your father was nice enough to keep me company. We talked awhile and we went back to his hotel room to talk. Well we got close and ended up having sex. You were conceived. But your Dad and I lived miles apart and I had forgotten to get his address. Stupid huh? I didn't know I was pregnant until it was way too late. And that's our story. I don't really know your Dad that well."

"Wow. You said you have to love someone if you're gonna have sex with them. Did you love Daddy?'

"I did that night. I loved that he was funny, kind to me and smart."

"Okay. Was he always sad?"

"Not the night I met him. But he didn't have to use a cane back then. Maybe his bad leg has something to do with his sadness."

"Let's go shoppin'." She said.

"Honey, we don't have any money."

"We can pretend."

We had several hours to kill, so we went and pretended that we had a lot of money. We tried on clothes. She tried on several fancy dresses. Dresses I had never been able to afford to give her. She tried on one, it was a delicate blend of electric blue velvet bodice with blue irises all over the white chiffon skirt. My daughter was so much the tomboy that I was surprised when she picked it out. She looked so pretty, a beautiful girl. The blue made her eyes even more prominent and gorgeous. She was going to be a long legged beauty when she was older. I smiled. "Honey, you look beautiful."

"I fee really pretty in it. Mommy, when I die, can you bury me in this dress?"

I felt like an ice pick just went through my heart. I gasped and stepped back from her like she had just hit me with the fatal blow.

"I'm sorry Mommy, I didn't mean it. Please, don't look so sad! I'm sorry! Please don't worry...come on. I'll take it off! I'm takin' it off!"

I couldn't move, the whole store just went swimming around and around. I sat down on the chair next to the dressing room and felt my heart start pounding, my hands went clammy and my breath was irregular.

"Mommy are you okay?" She ran off and I heard her say to the sales lady, "My mom is sick, can you help?"

My heart felt like it was squeezing down, tighter and tighter, as my breath became more and more shallow.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Can you tell me where it hurts?"

I tried to shake my head, "My chest...I'll be okay." I could hardly get the words out, "Panic...attack...okay...just...minute." I tried to think, tried to think of the sound of the Montana wind when I was walking the gulleys in the badlands. I started to calm down. The woman shoved a glass of water in my face and I drank some of it. I nodded at her and tried to thank her, but nothing came out. I was starting to get control over my breath, my heart, my chest. I nodded and smiled at Chu-chu who was crying and holding my hand. "Okay, honey, okay." She stopped crying. "Get dressed, let's go." I looked at the sales lady, "Thank you. I'm sorry about that. It just hit me out of the blue."

"Don't worry, I had several of them when my husband left me for the bimbo."

I again nodded and stood up, a little wobbly. Chu-chu came out in her jeans, shirt and jacket and we left. I said to her, "Let's get a hot chocolate."

I ordered a large hot chocolate for us to share. It was cheaper than two small ones. "I'm sorry Mommy."

"Honey, it wasn't your fault. But I want you to keep thinking good thoughts. We're going to get through this. You're going to live to be a beautiful woman with kids of your own."

"Sure Mommy."

At 4:15 pm we made our way back to the shelter. We got back and the lady at the desk signed us in. She looked at my name and said, "Maddie Doyle?"

"Yes."

"Oh, thank God. There's a guy making a nuisance of himself. He's over there watching television."

Chu-chu and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. We went around the barrier and there he was, sitting watching television with the valuable remote control in his hand. His chin was resting on his cane. He looked up when we came in and Chu-chu took off in his direction.

"Daddy!"

I saw him blink at the word and had to snicker. He was really having trouble coming to terms with that. She grabbed around his neck and he frowned a little and then relaxed. She kissed his cheek and pulled back to look in his eyes.

"Are you going to stay here with us in our room? I've got room in my bunk, I'll share!"

"No." He stood up and looked at me. "Get your stuff, you're not staying here."

"You don't tell me what to do." I stood there with my hands on my hips giving him the evil eye.

"I won't let my daughter stay in a disease ridden place like this. You want her to pick up an infection?"

When he put it that way, I felt sheepish. It wasn't the best environment for her. "Where are we going to go?"

"You'll sleep at my place tonight and tomorrow we'll find you a place."

"I can't...I won't – take your money."

"I'm going to pay for an apartment until you can find a job and pay yourself. For the last eight years, you've done all the supporting by yourself. I can do this."

"Mom...please. I hate it here."

I didn't like it either. It didn't take much to convince me.

He threw the remote at one of the scowling women sitting on a chair, "_Now_ you can turn it to Oprah!"

We went up and packed and were out of the shelter within half an hour. I followed him to his apartment. When we got inside, Chu-chu went nuts with all the musical instruments that were sitting and hanging all over the front wall of the living room.

She yelled at her father, who had gone to the restroom, "I can play guitar! Want to hear me?"

There was no answer, just a flush and the sound of water running. He came out and looked down at her, "You play guitar?"

"Uh-huh."

"Acoustical or electric?"

"Acoustical. There's not too many plugs out on the badlands."

He went over and grabbed an acoustical guitar off the wall and handed it to her. "Play something for me."

She played the first few stanzas of, "Farewell Angelina." She stopped, looked at me, "Mom, you're suppose to sing the lyrics. You missed the bar."

House looked at me. "Before you start your duet, do either of you want something to drink?"

"Water, please." I answered.

"Caboose?"

"Milk."

"Okay, I just hope it hasn't spoiled." He turned to go into the kitchen.

Chu-chu started playing again and I went to the wall, grabbed another acoustical guitar and joined her. I started singing the lyrics to my daughter's delight.

Farewell AngelinaThe bells of the crown  
Are being stolen by bandits  
I must follow the sound  
The triangle tingles  
And the trumpet play slow  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky is on fire  
And I must go.

Greg came into the living room with two glasses and then hobbled back in to get a glass that obviously had whiskey in it. He sat down and watched the two of us play and sing. He actually grinned at us as I continued the lyrics.

There's no need for anger  
There's no need for blame  
There's nothing to prove  
Ev'rything's still the same  
Just a table standing empty  
By the edge of the sea  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky is trembling  
And I must leave.

Greg got up and went to the piano and began to play with us. He played beautifully, just like his daughter, who obviously had his incredible ear for music.

The jacks and queens  
Have forsaked the courtyard  
Fifty-two gypsies  
Now file past the guards  
In the space where the deuce  
And the ace once ran wild  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky is folding  
I'll see you in a while.

See the cross-eyed pirates sitting  
Perched in the sun  
Shooting tin cans  
With a sawed-off shotgun  
And the neighbors they clap  
And they cheer with each blast  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky's changing color  
And I must leave fast.  
King Kong, little elves  
On the rooftops they dance  
Valentino-type tangos  
While the make-up man's hands  
Shut the eyes of the dead  
Not to embarrass anyone  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky is embarrassed  
And I must be gone.

The machine guns are roaring  
The puppets heave rocks  
The fiends nail time bombs  
To the hands of the clocks  
Call me any name you like  
I will never deny it  
Farewell Angelina  
The sky is erupting  
I must go where it's quiet.

**CHAPTER 17**

**KICKIN' SS AND TAKIN' NAMES**

House smiled at both of them when they finished. He turned to Chu-chu. "Who taught you to play guitar?"

"Kevin and Mom. We play all the time around the camp. We know a lot of songs. I started playin' when I was 4. Now will you teach me the harmonica?"

"Come here," he moved over so she could sit on the piano bench with him. She sat down next to him. "This is middle C. This note on this page is middle C. As the notes go higher, they go higher on the page. C, D, E, F G, A, B. The black keys play double duty. They're either called a sharp or a flat, A sharp is B flat. Now, this is called a "C" scale." He played the C scale for her and then motioned for her to play it. She fumbled a little but played it through again and again. He went over got a piece of paper and put the signature down, 4/4 time and wrote out the scale in whole notes. He taught her a whole note and a half note along with what her left hand should be doing. Chu-chu sat at the piano after he got up and did a C scale over and over. Maddie followed him into the kitchen as he got a beer out of the refrigerator.

"You know she'll play that damn scale until you tell her to stop. When it comes to music she's got an obsessive/compulsive disorder. Kevin and I have taught her every song we know. She's voracious."

"Well, music is all about practicing. What do you guys want for dinner? I'll order in."

"We're pretty easy. We eat well when we're out in the field with the tourists and on scouting trips. Since we lost the house, we've been eating crappy food. Not enough room in the trailer to store anything worth while."

"You live in a trailer?"

"Yep. We used to have a house, not much, just a little two bedroom deal. But it was our home. I put a second mortgage on it when we needed the first round of chemo, had to sell it for the second."

He ignored her tale of woe, "So, this trailer you live in, is it a single wide or double wide?"

She laughed, "It's a travel trailer. We all live in travel trailers at the site."

"Permanently?"

"I'm permanent. The others go home to their houses in the winter and on the weekends."

He stared for a second and then shook his head, "Okay, I don't want to know this. Tell me what you want to eat?"

"Chinese."

'Great."

He called and ordered Chinese. They sat at the table and ate the sweet and sour pork and chicken chow mein. House spoke some Mandarin for Chu-chu and she laughed. "Teach me!" House shook his head, "Let's stick with piano lessons for now."

"You're insatiable. Eat your food." Maddie told her.

"Daddy, what happened to your leg?"

Once again he flinched when she called him Daddy. "You promise not to call me Daddy for half an hour and I promise to teach you a song on the piano." She nodded. He took a breath, "I had an infarction. Not enough blood got to my thigh muscle to keep it alive, it started to die and throw off clots. The doctors cut out the dead muscle and didn't leave me with enough muscle to do the things I used to do."

"Does it hurt?"

Maddie looked at him and shook her head as House chucked down some Vicodin to emphasize that he was in pain. "Yes, it hurts a lot. It is very painful at times. Other times, it doesn't hurt that much."

"I'm sorry." She touched his hand, "If I could make it better, I would. My Mom kisses my boo-boos. Maybe she could kiss yours."

House started laughing. "I think I'd like that." Maddie gave him a dirty look. He smiled at her mischievously while he continued to chew his food. After dinner they sat down and watched a little television. Around ten Chu-chu fell asleep on the sofa.

"I'll take the couch, you two can have the bed." House said.

"No, you need your sleep, you're working. She can sleep on the couch and I'll sleep on the floor."

"Let's not argue about this one. I'm really tired of bickering with you. It's only one night and I insist."

She shrugged her shoulders and then picked up her daughter and carry her back to the unmade bed. He got up and went in to get some clean underwear and saw her lay Chu-chu on the far side of the bed, put the covers over her and as they left, turn off the light.

"Where are your sheets?"

He pointed in the bathroom at a closet.She stopped in the bathroom and pulled some sheets and a blanket out of the linen closet. She went back out to the living room. House sat back down in his chair and watched her quietly make him a bed on the couch. She seemed at home, like she had always been there. She was done and ready to go to bed when House stopped her.

"We need to enroll her in school if you're staying in Princeton. We'll put her in Princeton Prep, it's geared towards kids with brains."

She turned and shook her head, "You should know that Chu-chu's sense of humor isn't appreciated all of the time. She frequently gets in trouble with the faculty and the students. She says what's on her mind, which wouldn't be so bad, but she says it with biting, sarcastic, humor."

"You're saying that she may get kicked out of the school?"

"Yeah, don't get your hopes up for a happy, uneventful semester."

He started chuckling, "Now I know what my parents went though. Sit down for a second, I want to talk to you."

She sat down and looked at him. He noticed that her grey eyes were tired. Her whole body seemed tired and worn down by the current events. He looked away for a second and rubbed his forehead, "I've reconsidered. I'll have sex with you. But if you have a child, there'll be no obligations on my part, okay?"

Her face was beaming. The tenor of her voice went up, "Right! I won't ask you for anything. You can trust me. Oh thank you, thank you."

"Don't get too excited, your chances of becoming pregnant are pretty slim. At your age and with the timing, we're not talking very good odds."

"Well, how much stamina do you have?"

"You mean, how often can I get it up?'

"Uh-huh."

"Let's just play it by ear. You have about five possible days of fertility out of which three days give you the best shot. Take your temperature and when it goes up a notch, we'll get together for the horizontal mambo."

She jumped up, excited and said, "Thanks. I appreciate this. I know you didn't want to do it. It really is her only hope, you know that?"

He nodded.

"I'm going to bed." She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

The next day they were busy. They enrolled Chu-chu in school and she wiggled with excitment. She had never gone to school in a city. She wanted to know what they were like. She was enrolled in second grade but Maddie warned the administration that Chu-chu would soon be bored and they should test her first. They agreed to test her on Thursday of the following week if she was showing signs of being bored.

Maddie told House, "They're going to be sorry they didn't listen to me."

"Now let's find you a place to live."

House called the property manager he used to find his apartment and within two hours they were standing in the second studio the property manager had shown them. This one was several miles from House's apartment. "It's too small. Studios are too small. We need a one bedroom." House said.

"Greg, I can't afford a one bedroom. I don't expect you to pay our way here. This studio will be fine. It's bigger than what we live in at home or for now."

He sneered, shook his head and then said, "Come on, show us a one bedroom." House motioned to the property manager to leave.

"Greg, this..."

"Let's not fight. While you're in Princeton I can kick in some money, you'll be able to afford it." He saw my reluctance and just as I was about to protest again he said, "Let's talk about it later. Let's go."

The property manager looked through her listings, "I have a one bedroom that's not much more than a studio and it's near your apartment Dr. House." She drove them over to the building which was just one block from House's place. The one bedroom was a little more than half the size of House's apartment, but still bigger than the studios.

"This is it." He nodded at Maddie.

"Don't you think it's a little close to you? She'll want to be at your apartment every day. You might want to think about this."

"I'm sure you can handle her. This is it."

They put the deposit down, House rented it in his name with his local references. The apartment was empty. House scratched his head, "We need to buy some furniture."

"No. I can buy a mattress for the floor and some linens. You've done enough for us. I'm beginning to feel strange about your generosity."

"She's my daughter. I want to do this for her. Not you. For her. Now, I want to get this over with so I can get back to work. Come on, let's go."

House drove to the Princeton shopping center and went through the furniture section of the department store. "Pick out a sofa and don't insult me by being a martyr and picking out the cheapest one. You pick the cheapest and I'll buy the most expensive, so let's not get in a pissing contest."

"Okay. I like that sofa."

"So do I. Now, you need twin beds?"

"No, we'll take a full bed. Sometimes when she's really ill, she wants to sleep with me."

"Okay. How about a bedroom set?"

She giggled, "We have so little to store. A chest of drawers will do."

"Let's get you some linens, dishes, that sort of thing."

They spent the afternoon picking out linens, dishes, flatware, a pan set, glasses, a small table and four chairs, some lamps and a bath mat. On their way out, House stopped in the electronics department. The department salesman rushed over. House looked around.

"I'll take the 36 inch Sony LCD with the TIVO and all the things necessary to hook it up."

"House, we don't need that." Maddie insisted.

"When you leave, you can give it to me."

When all the arrangements were made for delivery and installation, it was time to pick up Chu-chu. They arrived at the brick and ivy school to pick her up and noted right away that she was pissed off at something.

House looked at her, "Whas' up?"

"I'm pissed. They called me Chumani all day long. I told them it was Chu-chu and then they called me, "train." I told them to all go to hell–" Maddie started to say something about the cuss word, but House put a hand on her arm, "– but they just laughed at me and asked me if I was a sh!tkicker."

House burst out laughing much to Chu-chu's chagrin. He shook his head, "You say some strange things."

"Oh yeah, like don't judge me by my relatives." she gave House a mean look.

House roared but Maddie turned around. "Don't talk to your father like that. He just bought you a whole house full of furniture and a tv."

"It's okay. She's fine." He turned to Chu-chu, "Keep going, I'm on the edge of my seat. What did you say to them?"

"They were all around me in the schoolyard. They said that they're gonna make my life miserable. I told them, "Any time a large herd moves through a civilized area there's a lot of sh!t to clean up.""

"Chu-chu! You mustn't use cuss words." Maddie was agitated. "You can't make friends by cussin' at them. You just remember girl, a smart ss don't fit in the saddle."

House was having a hard time containing his laughter. This mother-daughter repartee was priceless. His daughter was a hoot.

"But Mom." she moaned.

"Things go better when you mind your own teepee. I'm not pleased with the way you handled yourself."

House grinned at her, "I am. You certainly aren't going to make yourself well liked. You did stand up for yourself. But your Mom's right, you're not going to do well if you keep alienating everyone. Sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut to make things work."

"You mean if I find myself in a hole, I need to stop diggin?""

House started laughing again. "You're eight years old, where did you pick up all these quirky sayings?"

"I don't know."

Maddie smiled, "She's around cowboys all the time."

They got back to House's apartment and as they parked Chu-chu put her arms around House's neck from the back seat. "Daddy, are we staying at your place?"

Maddie started chuckling. House had flinched again at the word, "Daddy." House started to reach for his neck to remove her arms, but he stopped and let her hug him. "You're staying one more night until your furniture arrives."

They went into the apartment. Maddie put the bags down and went back out to the car to get the rest of the bags. She grabbed the keys to her jeep and turned to House, "She's yours for the next hour." The door slammed behind her before he could say anything else.

House looked at Chu-chu and gave her a silly look of shock. She giggled. "Want some milk?"

"Nooooo. Your milk tastes bad...yuck."

"A beer?"

"No goofy. I can't drink beer Daddy!"

" A Coke?"

"Okay."

He gave her a coke and grabbed a beer while he was at it. He left his cane swinging on the molding and hobbled into the living room and dropped down on the sofa. She came running out with her coke and put it on the table. She climbed over House and sat down next to him as close as she could get, took his arm and put it around her while they watched wrestling together. A half hour later the wrestling was over.

"Time for your piano lesson. Today we do a D scale and I teach you that song."

When Maddie got home they were at the piano playing. She walked in with several grocery bags and started putting food away as Chu-chu alternated between a C scale, a D scale, a C chord with her left hand and a song, Too-rah-Loo-rah-Loo. It didn't sound too bad. House got up and went into the kitchen and watched as Maddie got out some chopped beef cubes, some vegetables and beef consume.

"You're cooking dinner?"

"Stew. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

He sat in the kitchen as she diced and chopped and then made a sauce for the stew. House brought her over a beer. "Oh honey, I don't like beer." She gasped and stopped short. She turned to him, "Oh, I didn't mean "honey."

"Ah shucks, sweetie. Would you rather have a Grey Goose?"

"You have Grey Goose just laying around?"

"No, I have it in a bottle." he smiled like an elf.

"It's just so expensive."

"And I'm getting you a glass right now."

He brought her the glass and they sat down on the stools in the kitchen as Chu-chu practiced.

"She is obsessive, isn't she?" he laughed.

"I warned you." She laughed too.

"Are you sure you want to have another baby? It's a lot of work raising one, but you'd be raising two."

"That's the operative word, two. I'd be raising two. My daughter would be alive."

He nodded. "So this weekend is your time?"

"Yes." She looked away for a second, "What do I do about Chu-chu?"

"While we're screwing?"

She closed her eyes, smiled a little and nodded, "Yes."

"We'll give her to Wilson for the weekend."

"We can't do that!"

"He'll love it. The idea of me having sex to save my daughter plays right into his fantasy about me being able to change into a caring human."

"You are doing it to save her, aren't you?"

"Of course. I'm certainly not doing it because I want another child. That's not my idea of why I have sex."

"I feel a little strange asking you to be a turkey baster."

"Would you prefer I just give you the sperm in a bottle?" he asked.

"I thought more sperm survived from having sex rather than...you know?"

"That's true, but we're only talking about maybe a 15 difference."

"Would you prefer just giving me the semen?"

"Are you more comfortable with a turkey baster?" he said it a little loudly so that Chu-chu might hear.

"Shhhh. I can't help thinking that the best chance is the old fashion way because we can do it several times in one night rather than just one deposit."

"You probably increase the chances substantially that way."

Nothing more was said, but they both knew they had just settled the matter and as soon as her body temperature elevated they'd have sex.

House loved the stew. He wasn't sure what was so good about it, but it tasted great. He enjoyed sitting with the two of them eating and sharing stories.

The following day House went to work; Chu-chu went to school and Maddie moved them into the new apartment

When Chu-chu saw the apartment and the new furniture she was happy. "Can we have Daddy over for dinner?"

"We can invite him. Did you ask your Dad if you can call him Daddy?"

"Why should I?"

"He's never been a Daddy before. He might find it odd to answer to that."

"Well he won't get used to it unless I call him that."

"Okay. Fine. I'm just saying he might not appreciate it."

"I'm going to go over for my piano lesson."

"No honey, stay here today. Let your Daddy have a day off from us. It's been a big shock and he needs to be able to relax."

"But I _want _to!"

"I know you do, but let him have some time alone. Maybe tomorrow."

She ran into the other room and slammed the door. Maddie rolled her eyes and chuckled. Ahhh. Sometimes her daughter was a handful. But it was days like this, when her daughter acted like a normal misbehaved kid that she loved the most.

**CHAPTER 18**

**MAKIN' BABIES**

On Friday at noon I returned from an interview and took my temperature. It was up a notch. My heart started beating fast. I grabbed my cell and dialed his cell phone. "Hi, Greg?"

"Yes?"

"My temperature is up."

"Okay, I'll finish up and be over in a few minutes."

I took a shower, put on a little mascara and brushed my teeth–twice. I was nervous and happy all at the same time. I felt in control for once. I was taking a positive action to save my daughter, not just leaving it in someone else's hands. I got out some cheap whiskey I had splurged on and opened up a can of nuts. I put the nuts on the dining table.

He knocked on the door and I opened it. He looked sober standing in the hall leaning slightly on his cane. Then he yelled for all of Princeton to hear, "Excuse me Ma'am, but did you call a plumber? Did you say your pipes needed to be snaked?"

I was mortified! I opened the door and pulled him inside. "Are you nuts?"

He took off his jacket in the living room and then went to the door jamb of the bedroom. He ditched his shoes and socks, took off his shirt and began to take off his t-shirt. When he saw I was just standing there, he stopped and looked at me sideways, "When I was in med school, we were taught that it usually took two people to have sexual intercourse, unless of course you were going to give me a blow up doll. Aren't you at least going to show me your titties?"

My mouth dropped open and I just stared. Finally I managed to say, "I thought we might have a drink, some nuts...uhhh. It's been a very long time for me...three years."

He shook his head like he hadn't heard right, "Whoa. Sorry about your barren years, but I only have forty-five minutes left on my lunch hour before I have clinic duty. If we're going to make a baby, you're going to have to let me see your breasts, suck them and then open the barn door to let the bull in...if you get what I mean."

He continued to undress and then crawled under the sheets, his head propped up on his folded arms waiting for me. I undressed down to my panties and bra. I undid my bra with my back to him. I dropped the bra and but my arms around my breasts, picked up the sheet and got under.

My voice cracked as I said, "Should we kiss?"

"We're going to have to do something to get this party started, 'cause I'm not feeling it yet. I turned to him, tucking the sheet around me, and parted my lips a little."

He gave me a half smile of pity, "You know, I really have to get going. I'm going to have to see those breasts if you want little Greg to perform. But, if you'd just like to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, I can do that too."

I was unsettled. I pulled the sheet from around my breasts and, as I looked off to the side, I showed him my breasts.

"Ohhhhhh...yeah, I remember now. That's a nice pair of knockers. They could be a little bigger but they're round and perky. Look at those nipples, firm, erect. You know, only women who've had children have nice erect, nipples like that. I need a taste of that."

"Do you mind not giving me the commentary. I'm feeling a little awkward and it's not helping."

"No problem, I'm going to start sucking anyway." He wiggled his eyebrows and started to fondle my breasts. He licked and sucked them for several minutes while exploring the curves of my body with his hand. I could feel his hardness pressing against my leg. He rolled off of me a little and picked up the sheet to look at my pubic hair. He ran his hand through it and then his hand followed down the hair to my labia. He pushed his middle finger between them. I was dry. He played a few minutes with my clitoris until I could feel myself getting a little wet. He climbed on top of me and felt again. He took his penis and with the little wetness that had already formed on top of the head, he rubbed me, making me wetter. It felt good, my groin was aching. But I was still really tense.

He was watching himself do this to me. After a few minutes, he took his penis and guided it inside. He was very hard and I was still a little dry. He finally looked up at me. He slowed down, looked at my eyes, took his hand and pulled a stray hair back from my face. "You look frightened. I feel like a rapist."

"I'm sorry. I know in San Diego I must have seemed like a slut, but I really haven't had a lot of lovers. And I haven't had a man between my legs for three years. I keep wondering if I'm pretty enough, sexy enough, good enough to do this."

"I'm in and I'm hard, so I think you can cross, pretty and sexy off your list. Now good? We'll have to see how good you are." The whole time we were talking he was gently keeping the friction between us by his slow, gentle thrust. I was wetter now and it felt easier to accommodate him. He kept watching my face. I didn't know if I was suppose to respond or not. I didn't want him to think that I was doing this to have an orgasm or have fun. I knew this wasn't recreational sex. This was sex with a single purpose. I looked into his blue eyes and he reached down and kissed me, parting my lips with his tongue and biting my lower lip as he pulled back. He picked up speed and kissed my neck and ear. I kissed his ear back. I sucked his ear lobe. He buried his head in my neck and the pillow and penetrated me as deep as he could, over and over. He ejaculated each time. He pulled out, rolled over and sighed. He sat up and looked down at me.

"You have beautiful breasts." He got up, went into my bathroom, took a shower and came out to the living room.

It was time for him to get back to work. I handed him a paper bag, "Here, I made sandwiches. Take them with you."

"Thanks dear. I'll be back over after work around six pm. Have you talked to Wilson?"

"I thought you were going to talk to him?" I said.

"I haven't had time. You need to call and set it up."

"Well...okay." I called Wilson and he was incredibly happy about House's change of heart. He said yes immediately.

"I'll pick her up from school and take her home. You can pick her up tomorrow." he volunteered.

"Oh no, I'll pick her up tonight. He won't be spending the night. This is strictly business. Once we do it, he's out of here."

"Well let him stay and do it a few times. That is if the old curmudgeon can do it."

I laughed. "Thanks Jim."

**CHAPTER 19**

**DRY REHEARSAL**

She waited for him to come over at 6:00 pm but he didn't show. She called the hospital and spoke to Cameron.

"Dr. Cameron, is Greg there?"

"He went home a few hours ago."

"He did?"

"I saw him pack up and leave. He was tired."

She hung up the phone. She stared at the ceiling, _He changed his mind. Damn, he changed his mind. _ Her heart crashed to the floor. _I've got to keep going. Maybe the one time worked. I might be pregnant. _She looked at her watch. _I need to go over to Jim's to pick up Chu-chu._ She took off and drove towards Jim's apartment.

As she drove through the town, she made a wrong turn and found herself driving along a string of bars and restaurants. She saw his car first and then she saw him in the window seated in a cane back chair. He sat in his suit jacket, a wrinkled shirt and jeans. He was smiling at the young blonde woman sitting across from him. She was smiling back. That was all she saw in the quick seconds as she passed by.

Tears started falling down each of her cheeks and onto her arms. She didn't think she could take any more disappointment in her life. When she got to Jim's house she wiped the tears and knocked on the door. He answered and said, "Oh, you're early. I didn't think I would see you for a few more hours. She's still up."

"I'm very tired, If you don't mind, I'll just get Chu-chu and we'll be out of your hair."

"Sure. I know you're in the middle of your "window of opportunity." If you need me to watch her this weekend, not a problem."

She thanked him and motioned to Chu-chu to get her coat. When they got home, she noticed that she had a voice mail. When she dialed she heard the digital voice say 9:23 pm and then his voice, "I'm sorry it's going to be later. I'm still at the hospital with my patient. I'll drop by later."

Around 2 am there was a loud knock on the door. She quickly glanced at Chu-chu, still asleep, before she threw off the covers. She got up, put on her robe and went to the door. She opened it and he was standing there, leaning heavily on his cane. She frowned and opened the door to let him in. He smelled like cigars and booze.

He grabbed her and said, "Let's go." He started towards the bedroom door. She pulled away.

"Chu-chu's in there."

"What? Wilson told me you had it worked out with him."

She grabbed her robe, wrapped it and crossed her arms against her body, "I went and got her when you didn't make it."

He grimaced. "Crap, now what?"

"I don't know Greg. Do you even have any semen left?"

He looked stunned, "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter, go home. This was a bad idea."

He held his arms out, "Look, I'm here."

_He's right. He's here and my daughter is still sick. A baby sibling would be the answer to our prayers. I just have to spread my legs and let this man enjoy himself. Look at him. It makes me sick to my stomach. This man is cruel and mean and cares so little about others. It makes me sad that he's the man I need to make this happen._

"She's in bed...there's the sofa."

"Okay." He started taking his shirt off and then his t-shirt. I took off my pajama bottoms and threw them on the sofa to protect it from stains. He took his shoes and socks off and then his pants. He was standing, obviously tipsy, with no spark at all. He looked at me, "You're going to have to take your top off, show me your breasts or we're going to be here all night."

I took my top off and wanted to hide my breasts, but didn't. He walked a little closer and he put his hand on my breast. I did nothing. He put his other hand on the other breast. I could see a little movement in his boxers.

"Take your panties off and lay down."

I took my panties off and climbed onto the sofa. He sat down at the other end of the sofa. He took his hands and pushed my legs apart and looked down. I could feel myself blushing. He didn't seem to notice, he simply reached up and played with the folds between my legs, opened them up and smiled. He rubbed my clitoris a little and then checked me like a dipstick in a car engine.

"You're too dry." He sounded surprised.

_Well what do you expect, you're such an ss, I can't stand the idea that I have to screw you. _I tried to make myself think erotic thoughts. He continued to rub me. I guess I was still dry because the next thing I know, he put his head between my legs and stuck his tongue as far inside of me as he could and then licked my clitoris over and over. I squirmed from the little spurts of ecstacy that surged from my clitoris through me. I was starting to feel myself getting wet. He must have been satisfied, because he spread my folds and then lifted himself up onto me. He entered me and I turned my head to the side and looked at the blank television screen. He smelled so much like a bar, I wanted to cry. He let out a few grunts and then he was done. I was so grateful that it was over.

He dropped onto me and fell asleep. I pinched him awake. He woke up. "You need to get out of here."

"Huh?"

"You need to get out of here before Chu-chu sees you."

"Okay."he said rather groggily.

"I'm going to stay on the couch to keep the semen inside, let yourself out."

He did. I laid there for an hour and then got up and took a shower. I had a hard time getting to sleep, wondering what I was doing and if this was worth it. But I took one look over at my sleeping daughter, her tiny face on the pillow and knew this was the only choice I had.

The next day he called, "When do you want me over for our next session?"

"I need to get Chu-chu over to Wilson's so give me a couple of hours."

"Noon?"

"That's fine."

Jim took Chu-chu and told me that he'd drop her off after dinner but that he'd call first. He had a whole day planned for her. I could see she was excited, she loved Jim.

I drove home and didn't bother getting cleaned up. I wasn't exactly feeling sexy or in the mood for his attentions. When the clock said, "12:35 pm" I wanted to scream, but then there was a knock on the door. He stood in the hall dressed in levis, a sweater and a jacket, holding two bags. I opened the door further for him to come inside.

"I brought lunch. I hope you like burritos." He went to the table, pulled out two burritos, a diet coke for me and a Dr. Pepper for him. I realized that I was hungry. I kept forgetting to eat when Chu-chu wasn't around. "You're losing weight and if you're going to get pregnant, you need all your strength."

We sat quietly eating and he kept watching me like a zoology experiment. "Okay, I give up. What's wrong?" he asked.

I looked over at him slowly. I said nothing at first, but he tilted his head as if to ask the question again. "I know that you slept with another woman last night and that you weren't with a patient."

He rolled his eyes, "I had a date. I had forgotten about it until she showed up in the office ready to go. I got here as soon as it would be polite."

"Yes, a polite time between screwing her and being able to leave without her moaning."

"If you have to know, yes."

"I sat here waiting for you."

"Boo-hoo. I gave you what you wanted."

"No, you didn't. You gave her the best chance of the night. The first load contains the most sperm and you know it. You took that chance away from your daughter."

I must have his sore spot because he slammed his fist down and yelled at me, "F#ck, it's always a guilt trip around you. I didn't ask for this, I didn't want to be a part of all this, you should have gotten the abortion. It would have been an easier death for her." He grabbed his keys and jacket and took off out the door.

My heart started racing. _What have I done? He's gone and his precious sperm went with him. What am I going to do? I have to go beg for his forgiveness. I have to do whatever is necessary to get him to sleep with me. What was I thinking?_

I grabbed my keys and jacket and started out the door. I was just out the door when I saw him standing in the hall with his head hanging down, his hand up to his forehead and I'm pretty sure a tear rolling down his cheek. He pushed me out of the way and went through my door and back into the apartment.

He took his jacket off, grabbed me and kissed me. He tasted like carne asada. I kissed him back and started taking my jacket off. He grabbed my t'shirt and took it up and over my head, popped my bra off and started kissing me while he was fondling my breast. He reached down and licked my nipples and then sucked them. He pulled me into the bedroom and then took off his sweater, t-shirt, and shoes. He wasn't looking at me while but continued to undo his levis and pull them down over his socks. He ripped the covers back and pushed me down. He was ready, his erection pushing against his shorts. I pulled my pants and panties down quickly and he pulled his shorts down so quickly we looked like we were in a teenage sex tryst. He put my legs over his shoulder and stabbed between my legs with so much force I cried out. He didn't stop, he just kept driving deeper and deeper, penetrating me so deeply I could feel him up against my cervix. He stopped in full thrust and then pushed into me three more times, each time halting at the top of the thrust and gasping with each halt. He let out a breath and fell off to the side.

I was breathing hard too. The position wasn't the most comfortable for me, it pushes everything up against your ribs and chest. But it is probably the best position for fertilization and so I didn't have any complaints. I looked over at him and he was staring up into space.

I swallowed hard, "I'm sorry. I know I was trying to make you feel guilty. I was angry. You have every right to want to lead a normal life away from all of this. I can't blame you for going out on a date and getting away from us. I haven't had a date in three years, not a single night out, not a cozy dinner with a man. When I saw you with her all I could think of was how much I missed being with someone. To go back to the days that the only worry I had was whether or not there was lipstick on my teeth. I was just jealous...and angry that you didn't call."

He had turned his head and was listening to me. He shook his head gently and let out a quick snicker. "I lied to you. I called her yesterday afternoon and asked her out. I didn't want to be here, be with you, think about this. I wanted to just forget it all. I thought that, if I didn't show up, you'd get the hint and go away. But of course the whole time I'm screwing her I keep thinking about this. When I pulled the condom off and threw it in the toilet I thought, 'Is that the sperm that would have saved Chu-chu's life? Am I sending my daughter's life down the toilet? I left and came over here."

"Well, you came and you made a donation. Let's not think about what went down the toilet. You're here now and I'm grateful, really, really grateful."

"I need some water. You stay there, you might want to elevate your hips a little."

I pulled a pillow under my butt and waited until he returned with two glasses of water. I sat up on my elbows and had a drink.

"You have a nice body considering you've already had a kid."

I looked at my body. I had cellulite, a little bit of a pooch from carrying Chu-chu, and I was short-waisted. But I had really nice breasts and long, shapely legs. I wasn't fat either. I guess it was okay. I wish I had less jiggle all over, but I didn't get to work out anymore, so my body was what it was, a 37 almost 38 year old mother's body. "Thanks, I guess."

"If we wait a half hour I can probably go another round."

"Jim isn't going to bring Chu-chu back until after dinner tonight. So you have some time. I didn't plan anything other than staying in bed all day, with you."

He laughed. "You make it sound like, "I have to do the laundry, weed the garden, paint the fence and have sex all day with you."

I laughed. He was right. I did make it sound like an unpleasant task. "I'm sorry, but let's face it, if it hadn't been for those T.Rexes and your whiskey, we wouldn't be here. We don't have much in common except for a daughter and I don't know if I like you much. I appreciate _everything_ that you have done and are doing, but if it weren't for Chu-chu, I don't think we'd be in the same room."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I tend to like my women...ah forget it.'

"No, tell me. Believe me, I won't be hurt."

"I like them to be witty, pretty and young. And you may be pretty, in a Mom kind of way, but you aren't very witty or young. I also like for them to be from the city. No offense, but considering my leg, I'm not an outdoor guy anymore. To top it off, I think of someone in a cowboy hat and immediately I think, "mentally challenged.""

I rolled my eyes at that. "Well, aren't we open minded? I used to be witty and fun, before Chu-chu got sick. Now most of my emotions center around feeling helpless. And I did graduated magna sum laude in both my majors. I guess I look at a guy who lives alone, drinks and pops vicodin, is so out of touch with his feelings that he can purposefully forget about his dying daughter and go out and screw a bimbo, and say to myself, "loser."

He looked at me with twinkling eyes, "Come on, stop holding back."

We both laughed. It was actually a relief to know that we weren't attracted to each other; that we could just enjoy each other's company for what it was, two people who had a common goal. He closed his eyes and took a short nap. I couldn't help but look at his body. He was going gray. The tips of his hair were graying, there was a spot on the back of his head that was thinning. He had a cupid's bow for a mouth but it was hidden by the closely clipped beard that he wore. He had a nice patch of hair on his chest, not too little, not too much for my taste. I smiled because it was going gray too. I followed his happy trail from his navel to his penis. It was laying limply under a patch of dark brown and gray pubic hair, waiting for his master to summon him for duty. It was then that I got a good look at the scar on his right thigh.

I sat up and looked down at it. It was shriveled and looked terribly painful. I couldn't help but think that whoever had done the surgery did a lousy job at making it look normal. The thigh was missing about a quarter of its girth. I assumed that was the muscle that had been removed. I wanted to touch it, feel it, but I didn't. For some reason, he wore this scar, his bad leg, like a badge which told the world who he was. I really didn't want to know who he was. Maybe if I knew, then I would see him as more than just a disgruntled human, more than a loser.

He woke up around 2:00 pm. I was in the kitchen cleaning up in my t-shirt and panties. He yelled from the bathroom, "Got a toothbrush? I've got carne asada burrito in my teeth."

"Just mine. I guess if you rinse it in hot water, you can use it." I heard him brush his teeth and gargle with mouth wash.

He walked out and watched me working in the kitchen. I could see his reflection in the window. I let out the dish water and turned and looked at him standing there in the nude. I had to smile, this seemed so absurd, like a really bad social experiment.

"Are you ready?" I picked up the tea towel and dried my hands.

He chuckled. "This is like a scene out of a French Farce. Sure, if you are."

We walked back to the bedroom like we were walking into a grocery store, talking about the price of gas.

"I can't believe the price of gas went up so quickly." I said as I took the t-shirt up over my head and climbed into bed.

"It's just going to get worse in spring." he picked up the sheets and climbed in with me.

I felt really awkward. This was the first time we were going to have sex without alcohol or some emotional drama. So far, it had been about as mechanical as it could get. He lay there.

"I think I need to look at your breasts to get going."

"Sure." I took the sheet off and he looked at them and then at me. He started laughing.

I covered them up quickly, embarrassed, wondering what was wrong with them.

He was still laughing, "No, I wasn't laughing at your breasts, I was laughing at the matter of fact expression on your face and the robotic way you took the sheet off. It's like a really bad Kinsey experiment." His face went sober and he used a deep voice, "We experimented to see just how much breast she had to expose before he had an erection. When the requisite erection wasn't achieved, we allowed him to touch the breasts, then fondle and suck, all the while monitoring the fullness of the erection until he was able to achieve penetration."

I started giggling. "I guess it is pretty sterile. Is there something you want me to do?"

"No, I think I can get it up if we continue."

"I could stroke you."

"Hmmm." he pretending to think about it.

"Head? I could give you head."

He grinned, "You should know that no man turns down head. I'm game for that."

I sighed, picked up the sheet and climbed down. I encircled his belly button with my lips, kissing him softly and blowing on his navel. I stuck my tongue into his belly button and then dragged it down his happy trail. I had my hands wrapped around his balls and was fondling them gently. I slipped my tongue past his penis and went underneath, taking each ball in my mouth, one at a time and mouthing it. He let out an appreciative, "Ahhh." I licked him where his balls met his penis. His penis was fully erect, this was doing the trick quite nicely. I took my tongue and ran it from the base of his penis up the ridge and around the rim several times. I put my hand at the base and began slowly pumping him while my entire mouth encircled the head. My tongue licked the top and then around the rim, over and over as I continued to pump. I switched to sucking motions. I sucked in the same rhythm as I pumped until he was trying to back off.

"Let me inside you, Christ you touch me again and I'm going to explode."

I turned over on my back and spread my legs. He took one look between my legs and took in a sharp breath, plunged inside and ejaculated without any fanfare. He pumped and ejaculated again and again until he let out a breath and started chuckling.

"Jesus, I almost didn't make it inside. We've got to be careful. You give great head, too good. You need to back off sooner and let me ride you or we'll be cleaning up your stomach the good old Catholic way."

"Okay." I said somewhat surprised at the compliment.

He pulled me over to him and stuck his hand between my legs. I jumped back, "_What are you doing_?" I was stunned.

"Giving you an orgasm." He saw my shock, "Look, the physiological reason for an orgasm is to pull the semen even further into the vagina with contractions. Besides, I've come three times and you've just had to watch. Even a waitress at Starbucks has a tip jar."

I was puzzled by that last remark, but the whole time he was talking he had been stroking my clitoris and I was feeling quick, sharp pangs of pleasure leading up to an orgasm. I wanted an orgasm from a man. I wanted to feel a warm body next to mine and someone else controlling it other than me with my handy vibrator. He dipped inside of me and then spread the wetness over my clitoris and began using different pressures and motions. It felt so good. My thighs tightened, my pelvis pushed back into the bed and my breasts protruded. Then he started in earnest. He stuck his fingers inside and continued in and out while brushing the clitoris each time. I didn't want to look at him when I came. Orgasms are so intense, you look hideous when they happen, but I couldn't help it. He was turned towards me, bending slightly over me as he used his hand to rub me. When it came I grabbed him around him neck, looked up into his eyes and moaned, "Faster, faster...oh yeah, God...God...yeah, yeah...that's it...right there-OHhhhhhhhh." My whole body contracted and flushed. I felt the orgasm everywhere, my groin, my stomach, my nipples, my cheeks. And then the contractions dissipated. He smiled very kindly at me, made no comments about my scrunched up orgasmic face or the sounds I made. He just pulled his hand out and kissed me softly on my lips. He pulled away and laid back down on the pillow. I was still laying in the crook of his arm.

I wanted to grab him and yell, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. But I knew I'd probably scare him to death. I fell asleep, relaxed for the first time in three years. I woke up, my head on his chest. He had my novel from the night stand in his other hand reading. The arm I was pinning down was loose at the elbow and he was stroking me over and over. It felt so soothing. I could smell a mixture of sweat, musk, semen and some type of almond soap. He was warm too. I picked myself up and he put the book down to look at me.

"Good evening sleepy head."

"Evening?"

"It's 6:30."

"Oh. Jim should be bringing Chu-chu home soon."

"Then we better get in out last go. Can you get me a drink of water before we begin?"

I nodded and went in to fill up his glass again. I brought it back and he looked at me, "You really do have a nice, womanly body. I like it."

"Thanks again. Are you going to need head again?"

He started laughing, "No, seeing you naked has stirred things up. How about a different position though? Lay down on the edge of the bed."

I laid down and brought my bottom all the way over to the edge of the bed, my knees bent, waiting for instructions.

"Turn on your right side." He laid down behind me and pulled my bent right leg up, my knee near my breast exposing my labia. "Yeah that's good." He played with my breasts while nibbling on my ear. He kissed me down my spine and his hand reached around and fondled my clitoris. He stroked it softly and then with just a little more pressure. He stood up and from a standing position, entered me. The penetration was deep but the clitoris was stimulated by both his thrusting and his fingers. He watched what he was doing and I could see it was a real turn on for him. He fell over on my side and continued to thrust hard until I came. It was a surprise to me how fast it came. Once I felt his body on me, his breath on my neck, the waves of my orgasm hit like a perfect storm. I was grasping at the bedspread and moaning. I was going blank. All I could hear was his own moaning in my ear as he came over and over. He stood up again, pulled out and then collapsed onto the bed.

"Where did you learn that one?" I asked.

"Kama Sutra."

"I don't think I can take anymore today. I'm totally exhausted and just want to crawl up and sleep."

"You and me both. Jesus, I never thought making babies could be so exhausting." he exhaled loudly.

"Well, we're both nine years older that when we did it the first time!"

"Speak for yourself. I just like to think of myself as being so good that we only need to do it three times."

"I hope it works." I said.

"I don't know how to take that. It would be great for Chu-chu, but you sound like you just don't want to have sex with me."

"The sex is great. You're great in bed. Absolutely no complaints. It's just that, it's sex, not making love. I kind of miss that connection. It's a girl thing."

"It must be, because I'm feeling the connection over and over. I'm going to take a shower and get going, okay?"

"Sure."

"You're still in the fertile zone for the next two days. What do you want to do?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go for it. We need all the help we can get."

"Alright."

"I'll figure out what to do with Chu-chu."

Wilson came by. He was all smiles. Chu-chu was telling him all about dinosaurs and the funny things tourists do when they come out to the site, like try to steal the bones.

"I've had a great time. She's so funny. I won't ask how it went. You two getting together tomorrow?"

I shrugged and gave a plaintive look.

"I can watch her in the morning, but not the afternoon."

"Thanks. What time do you want me to bring her over?"

"How about 9 am to noon?"

"Sure."

I was fixing dinner and chatting with Chu-chu about her time with Jim. She put plates on the table and as she was getting the silverware asked me, "What did you do while I was gone?"

"I spent some time with your father. We wanted to go over some important business."

"Are you going to marry him?"

I turned and looked at her, "Oh sweetie, no, I told you before we're not getting married. You father isn't in love with me and I'm not in love with him. But we love you and that's what's important to both of us."

"Mom, when you're around he's not as mean. I think he feels better about things when you're nearby."

"No, he just feels sorry for me because of what we've gone through. Don't confuse his kindness with love. How do you feel about him?"

"I loved him from the minute I saw him."

"Why Chu-chu? He's not exactly a nice person sometimes."

"Because he speaks his mind, he's funny and he treats me like I can understand things."

I thought about it. Chu-chu hated to be treated like a child and Greg didn't, "I see what you mean. Let's eat."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 20**

**SLOPPY SECONDS**

The next day I got her up and told her that she was going to spend the morning with Jim so her father and I could work on some important problems. She didn't ask, she just went with me quietly.

I drove from Jim's to House's, parked the car and knocked on his door. I pounded and pounded. Finally, a voice said, "I'm coming." A few minutes later, he opened the door and looked sideways at me, "I gave at the office."

"We have until noon, get naked and let's f#ck!"

"Uh...you should have called."

"Huh?"

"I, uh, have company."

I heard a voice behind him, "You're screwing someone else?"

He looked at me and frowned, shaking his head in disappointment. "I can explain."

I was bright red and embarrassed, "I'll go. If you have time before noon, come on by."

I ran out towards the car and slipped on the icy pavement. I sat down on my butt and cursed. I felt a hand under my arm, "Come on, get up. I'll get rid of her and we can screw."

"No! I don't want to interfere with your life. Greg, I'm really sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it. She text messages me too much. And she doesn't know what a vinyl album looks like. Come with me."

I wasn't sure about this, but I was wet and cold, so I followed him back inside. The young and beautiful long-legged blonde, with thick Jolie lips and huge Doe eyes, was standing in House's shirt and a thong, her hands on her hips. She was giving me the evil eye.

"Karen this is Maddie." he said. I tried to give her a weak smile. "As far as screwing goes, right now Maddie outranks you. I'm trying to get Maddie pregnant. So, you'll have to skiddadle because I need to diddle her."

What followed was a string of obscenities that I had a hard time following. I had to sympathize. If House had done that to me, he'd have nothing to diddle with. She eventually grabbed her things and left. I turned to House.

"Do you have anything left to deposit?"

"Oh yeah, I screwed her last night. We were just in the middle of foreplay when you came knocking. I was going to break it off after today anyway." I was shocked by his nonchalance. I felt sorry for Karen. "Come on, let's go."

I got back to his bedroom and felt cheap. The bedclothes were all thrown around and there was a smell of sex in the room. It was a real turn off. "I can't."

"What do you mean? Just open your legs, I'll do the work."

"The bed, the smell, I feel like sloppy seconds."

He opened his mouth, rolled his eyes and tilted his head back in frustration. "Okay, we'll change the bed."

I went and got clean linens and we changed the bed. He pulled back the sheet and comforter and patted the bed. "Ready?"

I undressed and crawled in, "Ready."

I was on my back when he undressed and crawled under the sheets with me. He turned over on top of me, spread my legs with his knee and then just lay there, half on me, half on his elbow. He looked at me like he was studying a butterfly under a magnifying glass, "Chu-chu has your ears. She has your empathy. She's earnest like you."

"Any other 'e's" she has of mine?" I asked.

He chuckled. It went quiet between the two of us. He whipped the bedclothes off of us and got up on his knees between my legs and looked down on me. "This morning, you're on top until I come."

"Okay. But first we need little Greg to wake up."

"Well, that's your job. Why don't you do a little dance for me?"

"I don't think so." I said.

"Hey I just broke up with a nimble minx to screw you. You owe me. Here, here's some music." he turned on an IPOD next to his bed.

The music was "Fallin'" by Alicia Keyes. I didn't know what to do. He saw my confusion, "You might want to think about bending your knees, swaying, rubbing yourself."

"Why don't _you_ dance?"

"Okay." He jumped up, leaned on his good leg and started swaying, nodding for me to join him. I started to sway and he started to feel his chest, I did the same. He leaned on his cane and swayed up and down. He touched his crotch and I rolled my eyes. He gave me a stare as if to say 'come on, do it.' I reached down and touched myself. He put his cane over to the side. He came over and took my hand as we swayed together. He came around the back and took my hand again and put it between my legs. Together we rubbed between my thighs as I leaned back on him. He rubbed my breast with his left hand and continued rubbing between my thighs with our right hands. He smelled so good, I turned around and impulsively kissed him, a deep, passionate kiss like I've never kissed before. He kissed back and then backed me up against the bed. We fell on the bed and climbed up still kissing each other. His hard-on was pressed into my thigh. I touched him and stroked him while he continued to play with my breast. He sucked my breast and then entered me. He held me tight and rolled so that I was on top. He played with my breasts and then brought me down so he could suck on them. I tried to move my hips. House grabbed them and held on to them to keep me still while he made all the moves. I sat back up and he watched as he entered me over and over.

"This is the best view in the house."

"Or 'of the House?'"

"Cute. Damn. Every time you clamp down I think I'm going to come."

I smiled devilishly and started to clamp down on him making it harder and harder for him to thrust as I got tighter and tighter. He ejaculated several times before yelling out, "Damn...oh my God, it's too much, too much. I started moving my hips up and down, side to side and around, clamping down on him the whole time. He cried out again, "No more...no more. It's uncomfortable."

I stopped. I pulled off of him and I laid down next to him, panting. He laughed, "You're a minx. How do I go back to screwing hookers after these last three days with you?"

"I've got to get going. Wilson wanted me to pick Chu-chu up by noon."

"Bring her back here for her lesson."

"Greg, I'm worried about her. She's really becoming attached to you. When we go home, she's going to miss you. She asked me today if we were going to get married."

He didn't flinch, "What did you say?"

"What do you think? I told her no. That we didn't love each other, but that we loved her and that's what counts."

"Am I suppose to echo that or something?"

"It would be nice. That's what parents do."

"The day she goes home I'll buy her a harmonica. That will make her forget about this fantasy of hers. She'll have something else to do."

"Not unless you teach her first. I'm not going to listen to her wailing on that harpoon without direction."

"Okay, harmonica lessons soon." he swat my butt and he got up.

"Great...she'll be thrilled. Well, I'm off. I'll bring her over and you can send her home when you're done."

"Why don't you come back with her, we can watch some movies."

"You getting warm and fuzzy?" I looked back at him, smiled and closed the door.

**CHAPTER 21**

**FATHER KNOWS BEST**

Over the next two weeks Chu-chu attended school and made a couple of new friends, both males. She still preferred her evening lessons with her Dad to anything on television. House enjoyed teaching her piano, mostly silly, absurd songs from his questionable youth. She loved to crawl up on the couch and watch television with him when the lessons were over. Occasionally, Maddie would cook at House's apartment while he gave Chu-chu a piano lesson. The dinner table consisted of Chu-chu and House each trying to eat the most off of each other's plate as well as conversations that ran the gamut from the mundane to quantum mechanics.

"Daddy, you and Mommy have jobs that are a lot alike, You solve medical puzzles, she solves giant jigsaw puzzles made of bones and tries to figure out why they died or lived or whatever. Huh Mom?"

House laughed, "Fortunately for your mother, she deals with the dead, they don't complain too much. Mine tend to still be somewhat alive and cranky."

Chu-chu squirmed in her chair, "I thought I was going to be a Paleontologist when I grow up. But I also want to be a doctor. Is there a doctor who puts bones together to solve problems?"

House nodded, "A forensic pathologist who works on crime scenes does that."

"Then that's what I'll be."

House looked at her and smiled, "I think you'll be good at it. You'll be good at whatever you do."

Maddie looked at House pleased by his statement, "Your Dad's right."

"Daddy, can I stay here tonight with you?"

"Chu-chu, don't bother your father. The weekends are his time to recharge his batteries."

House gave Chu-chu a roll of the eyes in response to Maddie, "You can stay if you promise not to call me Daddy for an hour and your Mom says it's okay."

Maddie's eyes grew wide in surprise. She looked at House, held her breath and looked at her daughter, "Where will she sleep?"

"The couch." He said.

"Okay, but you do what your Dad tells you." Maddie bit her lower lip, "Chu-chu, clear the table and run the dishwater, I'll be in to help wash the dishes soon."

Chu-chu took the dishes into the kitchen. Maddie looked across the table at House. She had been quiet and distracted all evening and House knew something was bothering her. She looked down and swallowed hard.

"Let me guess, you got your 'friend' today?" He said.

She nodded. "Yes, like clockwork."

"We'll try again in ten days."

"Are you sure?"

He laughed, "Gee, am I sure I want to repeat having marathon sex without paying for it? You must be loony."

"I see what you mean. Thanks, I do appreciate it."

Maddie didn't know what to do without Chu-chu around so she went to bed early knowing that her first student would arrive at 9:00 am the next morning. She had found a tutoring job with a Princeton tutoring service. They had arranged for the students to come to her apartment for tutoring. She made $20 an hour helping both undergraduate and graduate students with their work in earth sciences and archeology. Maddie was well versed in geography, geology, genetics, botany, zoology, anthropology, archeology and paleontology. The service sent her five students on Saturdays and three each day of the midweek. It ended up that she only made $1600 a month, but it allowed her to be home with Chu-chu when she got home from school in the afternoon. Things were tight, but then, they had always been tight. The apartment alone cost $850. The rest of the money went to keeping the car running and utilities. Between gas and insurance it ate up another huge chunk of their income. Maddie had decided that they would learn the bus routes and get monthly bus passes, which they did. House paid Chu-chu's tuition, lunch and school supplies. He also paid their utilities, which were all in his name with the lease.

Maddie was so disappointed when she felt the twinge of pain in her abdomen, the twinge that told her she was starting her period. She had cried a little when she saw the first blood, but she quickly sucked it up. _What was I thinking, that it would take the first time? Well, it did the first time we had sex. At least Greg is willing to try again and seems to understand_.

Maddie was happy with how well House and Chu-chu seemed to have hit it off. His cruel retorts and moodiness didn't phase Chu-chu and he they were balanced with small, but significant, acts of kindness. He often let her chose the television program that they would watch. He taught her all the obscure diseases from Africa so that she would know them when she went on digs with her Mom.

"I don't have any plans on going to Africa any time soon." Maddie said when Chu-chu came home to tell her about African Sleeping Sickness.

"But don't most archeologists and Paleontologists go to Africa at some point? This way we'll know what we have when we get sick!"

"Brilliant thinking Sherlock!" Maddie laughed, "I was hoping I wouldn't get sick."

"You never know Mom. Best to be prepared."

"Yeah, I guess."

House continued to give her piano lessons and, Maddie noticed that he was buying her favorite foods to have around at his apartment. He even took Chu-chu to the movies, something Maddie couldn't afford to do. Chu-chu could count on one hand how many times she had been to a movie in her life before coming to Princeton. Sometimes Maddie would be surprised when House would call her to announce that Chu-chu and he were going somewhere or that she was spending the night. Maddie was happy for her daughter. Chu-chu thought that her Dad could do no wrong, even when he called her a moron she just laughed at him.

One evening after House dropped Chu-chu off, he announced, "I think we should start having sex a few days earlier during your fertilization cycle. There's the odd chance that you are ovulating earlier than your temperature shows."

"Is this a ploy to have more sex?"

"I'm 48, this constant sex isn't that easy for me to keep up with."

They began having sex during the lunch hours on Maddie's tenth day and every day for the next few days. When Maddie's temperature started to elevate on Saturday, House booked a hotel room in Philadelphia and got Wilson to agree to watch Chu-chu for the night.

They had a nice dinner, went to hear some Jazz, had a few drinks and then retired to the hotel room where they had sex four times in the next fourteen hours. When they got home they were both tired and sore. Even House was moaning that it was killing him. As House dropped Maddie off, he yawned. Maddie gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him that he had been a real trooper.

Monday rolled around and Maddie wasn't sure House would want to have their lunch rendezvous even though it was the last of her prime days for fertility. She was secretly moved when he showed up at her apartment at 11:50 am as usual.

"I never thought I'd be tired of sex." He said. But he wasn't fooling himself. He knew that, if she did get pregnant, this would be their last time together and, to his surprise, that made him feel lonely. Even though he was beat, he couldn't bring himself to miss out on the sex, the cuddling, the smell and warmth of her.

She winced, "Is that a comment about me?"

He threw his head back and laughed, "If the sex hadn't been good I would have asked for a break two days ago. You're fine." He grabbed her playfully and pulled her towards him. She was laughing as he leaned in and kissed her as if they were sweethearts. She kissed him back and then slowly pulled away from him, looking in his eyes, both of them unsure of what had just passed between them.

He kissed her again and reached under her t-shirt for her breast. She could feel his body pushed up against hers and his erection pushing into her leg. "Let's move into the bedroom." She said.

He nodded and they walked back to the bedroom holding hands. He pulled her t-shirt off and nuzzled her breasts, kissing and sucking them. He undid the button and zipper on her jeans and reached inside to feel the warmth and wetness between her legs. She took his shirt off and then his t-shirt. He undid his belt and together they undid the button and zipper. They both dropped their trousers and stood in their underwear holding each other. He stroked her back as she stroked his cheek. He bent down and kissed her gently, his tongue played with hers. She crawled under the sheets and he joined her. She reached down and calmly stroked his erection over and over as he kissed her and fondled her gently. He kissed her shoulder and then let his lips glide along her breastbone down to her abdomen. It sent chills through her, it was so delicious. He pulled her panties down and began to play with her clitoris, sucking softly and then licking with a quick and delicate rhythm.

"Greg, that feels so good." She shook as the orgasm pushed outward from his tongue and through her uterus, abdomen and into her breasts and chest. It was a wave, spilling out over and over, coursing through her body. She didn't scream, she didn't yell, she simply said, "Greg, Greg, Greg."

When she finally stopped and pushed him away, the feeling of pleasure now almost paintful, she exhaled and looked down as he looked up with his blue eyes. He smiled as she opened her legs and let him penetrate her. They looked at each other with affection as he thrust into her. She finally clamped down with her muscles. He laughed a little and then exhaled as he ended with several short thrusts. He fell off to the side.

"Come here, I want to hold you." he said as his hand reached across her waist and pulled her into him. He started hugging her and kissing her ear.

She rolled even closer to him and put her head on his chest. They laid there, their arms and legs locked around each other until he finally looked at the clock and realized he would be late for clinic.

"I have to go." he said sadly. He looked down into her eyes and smiled with a tinge of sadness at her.

She stroked his face and said, "Okay." She sat up to let him get out of bed. They both got up, cleaned up and put on their clothes. "I'm glad you could make a deposit, come again."

"Cheeky aren't you?" He pinched her bottom. As he was closing the door he could here her phone ring.

Just as House was starting the car, Maddie banged on his window, "Greg, it's Maddie's school. She has a fever. I need to get over there, I'll take her straight to the hospital to be checked out, okay?"

"I'll let Wilson know that you're bringing her in," House said, trying to sound calm, but he knew how serious this could be.

**CHAPTER 22**

**SHE'S NOT MY PATIENT**

Wilson and House were waiting for Chu-chu in the clinic foyer. When they saw Maddie, she was carrying Chu-chu in her arms and looked very worried. They opened a clinic room for her and Maddie took Chu-chu in and put her down on the exam table. They each saw how pale and lethargic she was laying there.

"Chu-chu, I asked you yesterday whether you were feeling well and you said you were okay. Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

"We had reptile day at school today and I wanted to see them."

Wilson shook his head as he drew blood. "You should have told me. From now on, you have to be truthful, okay?" Wilson saw bruising on her stomach, further evidence of her blood vessels bleeding. House saw it too. He looked solemnly at Wilson and they exchanged a look of deep concern.

After the examination, House took Maddie and Chu-chu up to his office and pointed to the chair and ottoman for Chu-chu to lay down in. It wasn't long and Wilson walked into the office and looked at House. "We need to admit her." He turned to Chu-chu, "Come on sweetie, let's get a bed for you so that you can sleep."

Wilson admitted Chu-chu while House read the blood count. He was quiet and then he looked up at Maddie and shook his head just so slightly. Maddie's mouth dropped open and her eyes grew wide. She shook her head at him. "Don't, don't – Greg, don't."

"You need to know. You need to prepare yourself Maddie."

"You don't know anything...you don't know anything." She was yelling at him.

He came over and grabbed her as she flailed about. He kept saying over and over, "Shh, shh, shh, shh...she might make it, but don't bet on it." He let her go as she calmed down.

"I have to go up to be with her." Maddie turned and ran out of the room.

Wilson was talking to Chu-chu when Maddie walked into the room. She could see that her daughter had been drawing and had handed Wilson one of them Wilson smiled at Maddie. "I've been telling Chu-chu that she'll have to be here for awhile and that, no, she cannot bring in reptiles!"

"Ah, Uncle Jim. Just a lizard?"

Wilson laughed and shook his head no. "I'm going to talk to your Mom outside, so you watch some quality television, I believe General Hospital is on."

Chu-chu turned to the phone and dialed, "Hey Daddy, General Hospital is on, want to watch it with me?"

"Oh, okay." She sounded disappointed. She hung up and looked at Wilson and Maddie, "He's got clinic duty."

Wilson and Maddie stepped outside. "I can tell House told you it wasn't good. It's MRSA and in anyone else we'd be able to control it, but her body is pretty weak and her fever is already at 100.5°F. It's going to climb as the day goes on. We'll hit her with some pretty heavy duty antibiotics but her white count is really low and so is her red count. She doesn't have much to fight it with."

"She's a fighter Jim. Please do whatever you think is best."

"I will Maddie, you know I will."

Maddie sat by the hospital bed watching television with her daughter who fell asleep a few minutes later. She watched the nurses come in and take her vitals. Her temperature had jumped to 102°F despite the antibiotics. Wilson came in around 4 pm and changed her antibiotics to an even stronger type. Around 5:00 pm Chu-chu ate a little bit and drank her juice. She went back to sleep.

Wilson came in to check on Maddie. "How are you holding up?"

She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the floor, "Okay. I'm going to sleep in my car, I don't want to be too far from her."

Wilson scrunched his forehead, "You don't need to sleep in your car. I'll have them bring in a cot for you. Has House been up to see her?"

"Not yet. A cot would be great, thanks Jim."

"He must have a patient. Well, can I bring you something from the cafeteria?"

"I'm not hungry.'

"I'm going to be working late so if you need me, come down and get me." Wilson patted her arm and left.

Maddie kept watching the elevator door to see if House was on his way, but there was no sign of him. She got up to stretch and went down to the second floor. She was shocked to see the light in his office was out and there was no sign of him or anyone in it. She went next door and saw the light under Wilson's door. She knocked on the door and opened it. Wilson was laying on the sofa, obviously trying to nap.

"Maddie, something wrong?" He immediately started to get up.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jim, I was just wondering if Greg was in here with you."

Wilson couldn't look her in the eye. He looked at the floor. He put his hand through his hair and then looked up.

"Is he around?" she asked.

"He's gone home."

She pursed her lips and lowered her eyes. She frowned, "I see. Did he say anything?"

_No, he simply walked out with his backpack and when I confronted him, asked him why he wasn't with his daughter, he simply told me there was nothing he could do so why not get a good night's rest?_

"No."

She snorted, "I understand."

"He cares, he really does care."

"Yeah, I can see just how much."

"He's not good when he has to deal with his feelings. He shuts down and goes into denial."

She nodded and left to go back to her daughter's bedside. When she went inside she saw that the cot had been dropped off. She climbed on top of it. She looked at the monitor. Chu-chu's temperature had stayed the same. Maddie laid down and slept off and on the rest of the night. Around 2:00 am she woke up to see someone in the room. She tried to focus and finally recognized Jim.

"Sorry to wake you," he whispered as he looked at the monitor, "I just wanted to check her vitals. The meds aren't working, I'm upping the dose."

"Thank you."

"I'll be downstairs if you need me."

She nodded and put her head back on the pillow. In the morning, Wilson came up and handed her a cup of tea and a donut. She took it, "Thanks, I needed that."

"She still has a fever and it's not coming down. I have one more drug I can throw at it, but after that..." he couldn't finish the sentence.

"I understand. I need to take a walk, my legs are asleep." She strolled around the ward. As she went down the west corridor she saw House and his team walking towards her. He had a hard time looking her in the eye. He stopped, the rest of the team kept going. "I thought we might see you yesterday." Maddie said.

"I have a patient."

She shook her head and gave him a half hearted smile, "Right."

He averted her eyes, "How's she doing?"

"Still has a fever and Jim is telling me he only has one more gun in his arsenal."

He looked uncomfortable, looking around and away from her. There was a pause and then House said, "I have to go...patient."

"Sure, you're patient is important, go..._take care of your patient_." Maddie said sarcastically. House absorbed the veiled barb and continued towards his patient's room.

Maddie went out, made a few calls to the tutoring service and came back to find that Wilson was back in Chu-chu's room. Chu-chu was awake so Maddie went over to see her. "Mommy, where's Daddy?"

Wilson looked up at Maddie who gave him a knowing look, "Oh honey, you just missed him. He was here earlier when you were asleep. He'll be back later, he told me to tell you that you better start getting better."

**CHAPTER 23**

**BE PATIENT WITH LIFE**

The night she was admitted, Wilson couldn't believe that House had gone home. He packed up without even so much as asking Wilson how Chu-chu was. "House, don't leave. Your daughter is probably dying, spend some time with her."

"She's got a fever, she's going to be sleeping most of the time. Her mother's there and there's nothing I can do for her that you can't do. I'm going home and getting a good night's sleep."

"You can sleep?"

"Why not?""

"If you had a patient dying, you'd stay here all night."

"But _she's not my patient_, she's yours." House turned and, with his backpack on his shoulder, went home.

Wilson didn't understand House sometimes. He knew that House had grown attached to Chu-chu, but now he was shutting down, backing off, reverting back to his old self. He was putting as much distance between himself and the circumstances. And then, here was brave Maddie, telling Chu-chu that her father loved her and had been there with her. Maddie was a great mom. Chu-chu was a great kid. Wilson was jealous of what House had, even if for only a short time. He only wish House knew how precious this all was.

Lisa Cuddy stopped Wilson in the hall, "How's she doing?"

"She's not responding to the antibiotics."

"What do you mean?"

"I've gone through all of the big guns. She hasn't shown any improvement."

Lisa went over and sat down. She looked up at Wilson. "My God, what are we going to do? If she dies, House isn't going to handle this well. I caught him looking at a photo of him and his daughter. He looked so ...so fatherly, it was touching. Of course, once he saw me he threw the photo in the drawer."

At noon, Maddie took a walk down to the second floor. Inside his office, House sat, eating a sandwich and reading quietly at his desk. House looked up and saw her staring through the glass, disappointment written all over her face. He paused and then went back to reading his journal.

Around 3:00 pm, Maddie went down to the cafeteria to eat while Chu-chu slept. Wilson had started her on the only antibiotic left. He thought they only had a couple of hours before her organs started to shut down. Chu-chu looked up and smiled at Wilson. She looked around.

"Your Mom will be back soon, she went to get something to eat."

"Uncle Jim, can you call my Daddy for me? I want to talk to him."

Wilson smiled at her, "Okay sweetie." He picked up the phone and dialed House's extension.

"Greg House."

Jim didn't say anything, he just handed the receiver to Chu-chu.

Her voice was weak but sweet, "Daddy?"

His heart squeezed into a small ball, he looked down and put his forehead in his hand.

She said it with even more pleading, "Daddy?"

"Yes, Caboose."

"Please come up and see me. I miss you."

"Is your mother there?"

"No, she's down in the cafeteria."

"Did she tell you to call me?"

"No. She told me you were here earlier before I woke up. I'm sorry I was asleep. Can you come up?"

His voice was soft, "I have a patient."

"Daddy, I keep falling asleep. Could you come _now_?"

There was silence. He finally let out an exasperated sigh, "I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Thanks Daddy."

A few minutes later House came into the room, expressionless. Wilson looked over at him, his eyebrows slightly raised and his mouth barely turned up. Chu-chu's face lit up.

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi Caboose." House went over and looked at her chart and vitals. He frowned, looked sadly at Wilson and then looked down at her face.

"It's not good is it Daddy?"

"No Caboose, you're dying."

There were no tears, no pouting, just a solemn nod. "My Mom, she's not going to do well without me. I know it's hard for you, but be nice to her. Don't say anything funny about me being dead, okay? Promise? She won't take it well."

House smiled, "I won't say anything funny about you being dead."

"I love you." She said quietly, her lips curled up slightly and her eyes following him.

House looked at her and nodded. She tried to pick up her hand to give it to him but she was too weak. He reached down and grabbed it and held it. He leaned down next to her ear and said so that only she could hear, "I'll miss you Caboose." And then he kissed her on the cheek just as Maddie came back in. Maddie smiled with relief at Wilson.

Maddie went over and kissed Chu-chu too. "Pumpkin, when you get well we'll go find us some reptiles. You know your Mom is good at hunting them."

"Thanks Mom. I love you, you're the best." She reached down and kissed her again.

"I love you too." Maddie petted her daughter's hair as she fell back into a deep sleep.

House stayed in the room with them. A long silent hour passed. Her temperature spiked to 104°F and her kidneys started to shut down.

Wilson put a hand on Maddie's shoulder, "Maddie, there's nothing more that I can do. Her little body is shutting down."

"Jim, no. Please, give her something..." He shook his head. She looked at House "Greg?"

House said firmly, "It's over ...it's over Maddie." He looked at her, rubbed his mouth while he looked at his shoes, and then shook his head, "There's nothing more to do except turn off the monitor in a few minutes. I've got a patient to save." He left and went down the hall.

He kept walking, sick to his stomach, sweating. He went to his office, grabbed his backpack and took off. He needed a drink. He drove to the Gin Joint and ordered a double Single Malt Whiskey, neat. He was going to drink until he could forget that this was the day his daughter died.

"Time of death, 5:19 pm, March 10th "

They told me later that I sounded inhuman, the sobbing was so loud that Wilson ordered ativan and gave me a shot to calm me down. I watched as all the blood in her limp body drained into her back and the back of her legs. Without her little heart beating, the blood followed the laws of gravity. Her face became translucent and her lips went white. They unhooked her from the machines and medications. I pulled her to me and then off the bed into my lap as I sat in the chair. She was like a rag doll, dead weight in my arms. The pain, the weight of her illness were all gone. She looked like the five year old I remembered sleeping soundly next to me. I rocked back and forth stroking her hair, kissing her face. I couldn't let her go. When the Ativan kicked in I was able to stop moaning, stop sobbing and just sit there holding her quietly while the room turned dark with the setting sun.

_What am I suppose to do? Let them have her? I can't protect her if they take her from me. But I have to let her go. Her body is starting to stiffen. I need to get her home. Home to Montana._

Wilson sat with me the whole time, quietly, his presence reassuring me. I finally looked over at him and nodded. He got up and took her body and put it back on the bed.

"Jim, what now?" I said with a lump in my throat.

"She'll go to the morgue and then we'll make the necessary arrangements to get her home. Do you want her to be cremated or buried."

I had to smile at the question, "She wanted to be buried." I tried to talk between the sobs, "She wanted some archeologist a thousand years from now to find her bones and reassemble them."

"I'll call the mortuary and get the process started."

"Jim, could you go with me to pick out the coffin? I can't afford much so please don't let me go overboard."

"You don't have to worry, House is going to pay for it."

"He didn't tell me that."

"He told me. Don't worry."

Wilson drove her home and helped Maddie to her bedroom. He gave her some sedatives, but only enough for a few day. He went out to the living room and started picking up Chu-chu's schoolbooks, backpack, hair bands, socks, shoes...her things. He put them in the closet. Then he sat down and watched a little television. Half an hour later he walked back and saw that Maddie was asleep. He left her a note to call him when she woke up.

Wilson called House. He knew immediately that House was in a bar and drunk. "Where are you?"

"The Gin Joint."

"Don't drive, I'm coming to pick you up."

He walked in and immediately saw House leaning heavily on the bar. Wilson looked at the bartender and said, "He's cut off. His daughter just died."

The bartender's jaw dropped and then he nodded.

Wilson went over and grabbed the only stool left, a green vinyl covered stool with a split in it. He sat down and House looked at him.

"So, it must be over or you wouldn't be here."

"Yes."

"Maddie?"

"Home asleep. I sedated her. I told her you were paying for the funeral."

"Huh?"

"She hasn't got any money or credit. You don't want your daughter buried in a cardboard box do you?"

House dropped his head and said nothing.

"We have to make arrangements to get her back to Jordan, Montana."

House nodded, "Yeah, this is going to cost me a fuc king fortune. I wish I'd never met her or her mother."

"Too bad. Your daughter left you this." Wilson handed him a sheet of paper with ivy and hearts drawn around the border and a poem in the middle. House frowned as he took it in his hands. He tried to focus on it:

Be patient with life, despite its cruelty.

Often it seems careless of our pain,

But just as often brings us hope again.

Remember, I wanted happiness for you.

Under every foolish word this still was true.  
Be happy, then, without, as you would with me.

In your life many sweet events remain.

Not in anguish, but in joy remember me.

House read it and looked at Wilson, "Crap, you take it." He handed it to Wilson who took it and would give it to him later, when he could handle it.

"Come on, let me pour you home."

Wilson got House to his apartment, made sure he was asleep and then crashed on the sofa. In the morning Wilson got up, called the mortuary and made the arrangements for Chu-chu to be embalmed. _Clothes, she's going to need clothes._

Wilson called in to Lisa Cuddy, "Lisa, we're going to need time off. I've got to help these two bury their daughter."

"Okay, I'll get your practices covered for the next week. How is he doing?"

"Not good. He's in denying that he cares enough to be denying that she's dead. You better buckle your seatbelt, this could get ugly."

Wilson knew that Maddie was more likely to be awake than House so he walked down the block to her apartment and knocked on the door. She came to the door already showered and dressed, "Hi Jim, come on in."

"How are you doing?"

"About as good as can be expected," she said it matter-of-factly.

"I called the mortuary this morning and they are going to pick up her body. We'll need clothes for her."

Maddie remembered the blue dress, "Jim. There's a dress she tried on and asked me to bury..." she choked on the word, " ...oh God..." Jim walked over and hugged her.

"Let's go buy the dress and take it to the mortuary so we can pick out a casket."

Jim purchased the dress and some shoes for Chu-chu. They took the clothes to the mortuary. Maddie picked out a casket, one with musical notes embroidered on the inside. Jim called House, "I need your credit card number and expiration date."

"Yeah and I want Angelie Jolie's phone number."

"House, we're at the mortuary, we need to pay for ..." Now he was pissed, "_Your daughter's casket_!"

"Okay, I get it. 6011-4938-3948, expiration 4/2012."

Wilson calmed down, "We'll be back in a few minutes."

When they got back to the apartment, House noticed just how out of it Maddie was. Wilson had his arm around her waist and was holding her up. He gently set her down on House's couch.

House poured her a Grey Goose and he sat down with a whiskey. Wilson looked at the two of them, shattered, pale, unable to speak. "House, you and I are going to have to drive the jeep back so that Maddie can fly home with Chu-chu.

Maddie looked at House, "I can't leave her alone. She's never flown before."

House was about to say, _"What, you afraid she's going to drink too much on the plane_?" But remembered the promise Chu-chu had extracted from him about dead jokes. _Is it really a dead joke or retort?_ He gave up on it. He took one look at Maddie and knew that using logic wouldn't work on her. Chu-chu was still very much alive to her.

"When does her plane leave?" House asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon." she said.

Wilson patted Maddie's hand, "It will take us a couple of days to get back to Jordan. I'll notify the mortuary back there too. Now you two need to pack for the trip. Maddie, when we get back from Jordan, we'll pack your things and ship them back."

Wilson was more than a friend; he was their rock. He got Maddie and House down to the airport in time to watch the casket being loaded. It was hard convincing Maddie that she couldn't stay in the back with Chu-chu. House just kept drinking every chance he had.

Maddie boarded the plane an hour later. Wilson had called the town police in Jordan and explained what had happened. They knew immediately who Maddie and Chu-chu were and who to contact. They promised that someone would be at the airport in Billings to pick Maddie up. The mortuary was going to take Chu-chu home.

**CHAPTER 24 **

**JORDAN, MONTANA -GOING HOME**

They started the two day, road trip to Jordan, Montana. Wilson made House drive when they first got up, while he was sober. Wilson would drive in the afternoons, after House had started his afternoon benders. There was very little talk in the car. By the time they pulled into the small town of Jordan, two days later, it was early morning. They booked into the Garfield Hotel and House immediately went across the street to buy a bottle of whiskey.

They called Maddie later in the morning, "Hello?" Her voice sounded weak.

"We're here, we have your jeep. Where are you?" Wilson asked.

"I'm at my trailer out at Hell Creek."

"Okay, how do we get there?

"Kevin's in town getting supplies. I'll have him show you the way. Where are you at?"

"The Hilltop Café."

"Okay, stay there, I'll send Kevin to show you the way back. Look for a nice looking cowboy, reddish blonde hair."

When they hung up Wilson told House, "She's sending a good looking cowboy with reddish blonde hair to escort us."

"Oh great, that sounds a little Brokeback Mountain to me." House complained.

"It's her friend, Kevin."

House said nothing. They paid for their breakfast and watched as a blue 1998 150 Ford pickup pulled up outside and a man in his thirties with a dark brown cowboy hat, denim jacket, plaid shirt and wrangler jeans got out. House had to admit that he was good looking, "Just like Jake Gyllenhaal is good looking." Wilson rolled his eyes.

He came inside and immediately spotted House and Wilson. He tipped his hat and came over, "Dr. House? Dr. Wilson?"

Wilson got up to shake his hand, "Yes, you must be Kevin." Wilson noted that he had a solid handshake. "This is Greg House, Chu-chu's father."

Kevin snapped his head back, "Father?" He was clearly stunned as he stood there shaking Wilson's hand.

House used his cane and stood up. "Greg House." He shook Kevin's hand.

Wilson felt a sense of regret. He hadn't realized that Maddie hadn't told anyone about House. Kevin started to smile, "You're Chu-chu's Dad?" His grin grew bigger, "Hey Celia," the woman at the counter turned around to look, "this is Chu-chu's Dad."

The whole café turned to look. The got up and started to come over. At first they just looked at House, but then they started to shake his hand, "We're sorry for your loss, Chu-chu was a great little girl."

Another middle aged woman walked up and and patted him on the shoulder, "I loved that little girl, she was so full of piss and vinegar. We're all gonna miss her."

For the next ten minutes people came up one after another to give House their thoughts about Chu-chu and about Maddie. "Her Mom's a great gal too, funny as the summer day is long."

"Maddie and Chu-chu were a great team."

House wanted to leave but the people were so earnest in their desire to tell House what Maddie and Chu-chu had meant to them, that he didn't dare. Kevin finally ended it and said, "We need to get to the camp. Maddie is expecting you. Why don't you ride up with me Dr. House?"

House gave Wilson a feigned look of fright at riding with the good looking cowboy. "Call me Greg. Okay, I'll go with you, just no hanky panky." House got into the truck and Wilson followed in the Jeep.

Kevin was driving down the long straight road at a nice clip. He turned to House, "So Greg, how long have you known Maddie?"

"We met the night Chu-chu was conceived. It was a one night stand."

"I'll be hog-tied. Maddie? Maddie had a one night stand with you?"

"Are you surprised she had a one night stand or are you surprised that she had it with me?"

He smiled, "I think a little of both. Since Maddie's lived here she's had maybe three guys she's dated in the last ten years."

"Were you one?"

He laughed, "In a way. She's like a sister now." He turned serious. His voice dropped and his body slumped a little, "I want you to know that when Chu-chu was born we all took good care of her. She was an ornery cuss. Always gettin' into somethin', always askin' questions, makin' a general nuisance of herself, we loved ittle gal. We did our best raisin' her and lovin' her." His voice was cracking. He paused, "So you're a doctor? M.D.?"

House nodded, "You're a paleontologist?"

"Yep, got my doctorate from Harvard."

House did a double take. "Harvard?"

"Yep, Harvard." Kevin started laughing. He always got that reaction from the tourists. "I know doctor, you think that all cowboys have hay between their teeth, smell like beer and screw the cattle."

House started laughing, he liked Kevin. He was plain spoken and funny, two traits that House liked.

Kevin looked House in the eye and asked, "How come your just now gettin' around to claimin' Chu-chu?"

"I didn't know she had been born. Maddie didn't know my last name and so it made it hard to find me. Frankly, if I had known, I'm not sure what I would have done, I'm not exactly a saint."

Kevin was silent. He thought about what House had said and summed him up, "I believe you Greg. It's a shame, it was your loss. You're lucky Chu-chu had Maddie, she _is _a saint."

"I know."

They talked about Princeton and then a little bit about Chu-chu's last days. Kevin warned him that Maddie wasn't doing very well. She wasn't eating and she was crying non-stop, but she was home with the people who loved her and would take care of her.

They drove the road out of Jordan, through the flat plains and into the badlands, with its gulleys, hills, gravel and winter streams. They drove off the road about one hundred feet to a group of four travel trailers and a large canvas tent. House smiled as he saw Maddie stand up and walk towards the truck as it pulled up. He was secretly glad to see her. He got out of the truck and walked up to her. He wasn't sure why, but he put out his arms to embrace her. She walked into them. He held her and then kissed the top of her head.

After a minute, she pulled back, "You met Kevin, let me introduce you to Jade and Jack and the Gumms." They walked over to where a group of people were sitting in lawn chairs drinking beer. "Jack Benson, Jade Collingsworth, Kerry and Mac Gumm this is Greg House, Chu-chu's father."

There was dead silence. Their mouths were slightly open, their shoulders dropped and their eyes were wide open. Maddie smiled up at House, "Jade knew about you, but the rest didn't know."

"I got the same reaction from Kevin." He paused and looked at all of them, "Your next question will be why am I only now on the scene? Chu-chu was the product of a one night stand and we didn't stay in touch. Maddie didn't contact me, I didn't know about Chu-chu."

"He's right. I didn't know Greg's last name and so I had no way on contacting him to let him know about his daughter. Even if I did, I'm not sure I would have."

House could hear the heaviness in her voice and knew how much she missed Chu-chu. Wilson walked up and Maddie made the introductions. She looked at the two city slickers and motioned to some empty lawn chairs.

They took seats and Kevin brought House and Wilson a beer. It was freezing. Everyone was wrapped and sitting in their suede shepherd jackets, gloves and hats. There was a big bon fire in the middle. They all spoke in hush tones and with somber faces.

Wilson asked, enjoying the strangeness of the cold wind mixed with the warm bonfire, "What's going to happen?"

"There's a viewing tonight at 6:30 pm." Jade said.

"Greg, you and I can go anytime and they'll let us see her."

"Which mortuary, where?" Wilson asked.

Everyone smiled, "There's just one, Stevenson & Sons."

Maddie reached over and grabbed House's hand, "Tomorrow we'll have the services at the chapel at 10 am, burial at 11:30 am."

Wilson asked for a tour of the dig and so Jade and Kevin took him out. While they were gone, Maddie took House into her travel trailer. He looked around. It had a little bedroom in the back, a shower and toilet, a small two burner stove, little sink, small refrigerator, dining area that made into a bed. It was a small trailer. This had been Chu-chu's home for the last year of her life.

She said softly to him as he stood, leaning against the counter, "How are you holding up?"

He was unable to look at her in the eye and he started to shrug his shoulders. He blew his cheeks out and gave a quick, "Fine, fine."

On an impulse she walked over and stood close to him. He could smell her and it reminded him of them laying together, him stroking her while she was asleep on his chest. He wanted that again. He wanted to feel connected to him. He reached around her waist and pulled her into him, holding and smelling her. She wanted to smell him too. He was warm, really warm. She took his jacket off and he pinned her up against the door to the toilet. She put her hand up to his cheek, he kissed her, his tongue searching inside her mouth. She started unbuttoning his shirt and then he pulled his arms out of it. She quickly started unzipping his levis and slipped her hand inside, feeling his erection and stroking it. He was taking off her sweater, exposing her breasts. She kicked off her shoes while he pulled her into the little bedroom. The bed was less than two feet away from the door. He pushed her down and fell next to her, grabbing her again and pulling her over. She went down and pulled his levis and shorts off, as she came up, she stopped and sucked on him until he started laughing and pulled her off of him.

She straddled him and guided him in, letting out a soft moan as he penetrated her deeply. He moved with deep upward strokes that made her feel alive again. It wasn't long before he pulled her down to his chest and into the crown of her head he whispered, "Jesus, ahhh...God...Jesus...Maddie, Maddie." His voice sounded so needy, so much in pain mixed with the pleasure, he twisted to the side and out of her. He used two fingers and slipped them between her legs and inside while she was still excited. He rubbed her until she cried out and grabbed him, "Greg, Greg...ahhh, Greg." When it was too sensitive, she crossed her legs to keep him from rubbing her. They held onto each other like life-rafts in a hurricane, their arms and legs entwined. They fell asleep.

Half an hour later House woke up and looked at her. She felt him stir and when she opened her eyes he was watching her. "How long was I out?"

"Half an hour, maybe more."

"Boy, I needed that." She looked up into his eyes and with all seriousness said, "Greg, I don't want you to get any ideas from this. I just needed a release and since I know and trust you... I hope you can understand."

"I understand, believe me. I'm not reading anything into this. Damn, it's chilly in here, is this as warm as it gets?

Maddie pulled a throw over them, "Yeah, pretty much. You should feel it during the mid of January when the weather dips below 0 °F. It's like living in an icebox. But I don't know how long I'll be here. My grant runs out at the end of the summer and I'm applying for jobs at Universities. I'm tired of field work, I'm tired of being broke all the time. I'm just tired."

"Speaking of tired. What if you're pregnant?"

"You and I both know that was a long shot. My eggs are pretty useless." She chuckled.

"That wasn't the question. What if you're pregnant?"

"Simple. I'll raise the baby. Why?"

He didn't answer.

"Greg, why?"

"I want to know if you're pregnant."

"That wasn't the question. Why are you concerned about me being pregnant? Our deal was that there would be no contact with you, no obligations on your part. Remember?"

"I just want to know if there's a baby. You can put the baby on my health insurance this time."

"Well, that would be great, I appreciate that. If I am pregnant, let's hope this one doesn't need medical help."

"Will you tell me if you're pregnant?"

She opened her mouth to answer when the door opened to the trailer and Jade popped in. She smiled when she saw them. It didn't surprise her. They had been inside for awhile and the trailer had moved a little earlier, just after they went inside. Maddie raised herself up on her elbows while House just kept quiet.

"What's up?" Maddie asked.

"We're going to take Jim into town for a late lunch and drinks. Do you two want to come?"

"Greg, I need to be by myself for a few hours, why don't you go with them. You could warm up."

What Maddie didn't know was that House had been having a hard time deciding when to stop drinking when he drank over the last few days. If he wasn't having sex, he wanted to be in the bottom on a bottle of whiskey.

He told Jade, "Let me take a shower real quick."

Jade and Maddie looked at each other and laughed. House knitted his eyebrows, puzzled by their response. "Out here in the trailers, the showers aren't exactly hot at this time of year. We take them, but be prepared. You might want to have us drop you off at the Garfield to take your shower."

House shrugged, "The Garfield it is. I'm already cold."

"I'll see you at the viewing tonight. I'll get there a little early to go over the plans, about 6:00pm." Maddie said.

"Okay." House sat up, but Jade didn't move. When she didn't move, Maddie gave her a look and pointed to the door.

"Maddie, come on, I've seen all the tackles in Jordan, I'd like to see a Princeton one."

"Get!" Maddie continued to point to the door. Jade giggled and left. Maddie told House, "Of course you know that everyone is going to hear tonight that you and I jumped in bed as soon as you got here."

"My reputation is in tack." He bowed as he got up. They both chuckled.

House left with the group and Maddie stayed. She lay in her bed looking up and the fiberglass ceiling and thinking about Chu-chu. She let the tears come and run like a faucet down her cheeks. She wanted to cry now so that she could keep it together tonight at the viewing. Chu-chu had been adamant that they celebrate her life, not mourn it. The wake was to be held the following night after the funeral, at the Rancher's Bar, a typical Western dive, but owned by one of Chu-chu's favorite persons, Evelyn Thierry. Evelyn had told Maddie that the beers and sodas would be free. If someone wanted anything harder, they'd have to pay. It was the least she could do. There would be no reception after the burial. Chu-chu had wanted the wake instead.

Maddie got up and turned on the shower. She had the hot water turned on full blast, but the clear spring water was still cold. It certainly made for short showers. She was in just long enough to soap up, wash her hair, put conditioner on and rinse. She got out and looked at her meager wardrobe. _What would Chu-chu want her to wear tonight?_ She decided on a dress since Chu-chu was dressed in one. She pulled out the one she had bought when she presented her paper at the International Paleontology Society four years ago. It was a black wrap dress with white piping. She put it on, grabbed a pair of hose and then put on her black pumps. She decided against make-up. _Why tempt fate...I wear it, I'll just smear it._

She sat in the trailer with a bottle of water, staring, just staring. She was all alone in the world in the middle of the Montana badlands. She sat there for an hour until there was a knock on the door and then it opened. Jack Benson was standing looking down at her.

"You ready Maddie?" he said softly, seeing that she was somewhere else in her mind.

"Yeah Jack, I'm ready." She slipped on her suede sheepskin jacket, her cowboy hat and her gloves and they left.

Maddie and Jack arrived at the funeral parlor a little after 5:00 pm. House and Wilson joined them soon after. Maddie had been talking to the funeral director about some last minute arrangements and she looked upet over something. House walked over to them.

"Maddie, the grave diggers have to be paid. I can give you credit to pay for the chapel and transport, but the diggers are required by law to be paid up front, they're in a union."

Maddie was starting to get anxious. She didn't have the money. Tiny beads of sweat formed above her lip. She felt the tingle of the anxiety start in her chest and run up into her shoulders, her breath was shallow, her body draining of energy. They needed $349 to dig a hole. "Kyle, I don't have it."

House pulled out his wallet and handed a credit card to the funeral director. "Just put _all of it_ on this."

Kyle looked to Maddie to see if it was okay. Maddie gave a little nod. She felt the anxiety leaving and her breathing returning to normal. House bent down and tilted his head, "You look like you're going to faint. Let's sit you down and give you some water."

Maddie said nothing but followed House to a chair. He went to the water cooler in the lobby and filled a paper cup. Maddie drank it. She waited a few minutes and then she was ready to go into the viewing room. They opened the door for her and there was the coffin, half the size of an adult's, opened with white satin lining it and black musical notes embroidered in the lid that revealed the lifeless body of Chu-chu.

House and Maddie both went over to look. House was detached. His medical training and experience had brought him into contact with death on numerous occasions. Maddie smiled at her pretty daughter in her pretty blue dress. She saw that there was something in her hands.

_I never asked for anything to be put in the coffin with her? What did they do? What is that in her hands? _

She looked closer and then she realized what it was. The sadness welled up in her heart, her throat, her eyes. It was House's harmonica.

**CHAPTER 25**

**THE MECHANICS OF DEATH**

I was touched. I never know how to take him. He can be so cold, so analytical, so acerbic and oh so cruel. Just when I've decided that I don't like him, that he's a jerk, he does something so sweet it just aches. Wilson and I knew that this was his way of saying how much he had come to love his daughter. I know he doesn't believe in an afterlife, so this demonstration was even more touching. Sending his harmonica six feet under when his belief systems says it's a wasted gesture, was overwhelmingly heartwarming. It was his sweet tribute to the essence that was Chu-chu.

I felt so confused when it came to him. I wondered what effect our daughter would have on him from here on out? Would he carry a little of her in his heart to remind him not to be so cruel? Would this teach him any lesson of compassion for his patients? I knew that I would never know the answer. I was pretty sure that these next few days would be the last contact I would have with Greg House.

I hate open caskets but Chu-chu had wanted to be buried in that blue dress because she wanted people to see her in it. I couldn't deprive my little show-off of her opportunity to be seen in her dress. It did look pretty on her. She wasn't as translucent as when she died, they had put make up on her. She would be thrilled to be allowed to wear makeup. It seems so stupid doesn't it? One day refusing to let her wear makeup seems important, the next day it seems like a petty thing to be worried about.

I was sitting, thinking through all of this when someone finally touched my hand.

"Maddie, do you want to sit down now? People are coming in." Jade's touch was soft and comforting. I turned and looked at her, trying to focus on what she was saying. I could hear piano music and looked over to see that House was playing a beautiful song.

I nodded. She took me by the elbow and we went to sit down. The mortuary extended the visiting hours because so many people from the town were trying to get in or called to ask that they be allowed to arrive late. House played piano. The people streamed through and in the end 235 people came into the small viewing room to see Chu-chu and say goodbye. I was touched. The people of Jordan, Montana are not rich. The mean income falls below the national average. Most of the people work in agriculture either with steers, sheep or hay. But by the time the night was over, I had envelopes containing over $1500.

Around 8:00 pm, the original time scheduled for the viewing to be over, I was shocked to see Drs. Cuddy, and Chase come into the parlor. I was really moved by their support of House. He certainly did little to earn it. House stopped playing and came over to them. I had been seated in a chair. There was a couch and chair next to me for people to sit and talk. But there had been so many people crammed in, that only the very old and feeble were sitting to say anything to me. House sat in the chair and the doctors took the couch. I continued to welcome and accept the kindness of the remaining mourners.

Cuddy actually took House's hand in hers, "Wilson let us know the details. We understand the funeral is tomorrow morning and the wake tomorrow night?"

"Yes." House said.

"We leave the following afternoon from Billings, so we should be able to attend both of them." Cuddy said.

"Thanks." House looked at them as if it was hard to say it, "I really appreciate that you came."

"Foreman and Cameron are holding down the fort."

An hour later the train of people stopped and the morticians came into the room to clean up. They went to close the casket and I began to sob. The morticians stepped back for a moment.

The undertaker said, "Sometimes it's best Maddie if you leave before we close the casket. I know it's hard to watch the lid come down."

"I just know she hate tiny places, she hated being cooped up in anything. I don't know why I thought it would be best to bury her. She hates to be closed in." I turned to House who had made his way over to me and was putting a very warm arm around my shoulders, "I don't know how I can leave her in the dark..." My voice was now interspersed with hic ups.

House grabbed hold and hugged me, "She's not in there Maddie. That's not the living girl we knew. She's gone. That's only the shell. She's not cooped up, she doesn't see through those eyes. Come on, let's get you out of here."

Jack had taken Jade back to her house. He told me to call him when I was ready to go home. House held me with his left arm as we walked slowly out of the room. "Come back to the hotel with me. I'll keep you warm tonight and we'll make sure Jade brings you a set of clothes to change into tomorrow."

I frankly didn't care where I went. I just followed. He held me as we walked the six level blocks to the Garfield Hotel. The wind was bitingly cold but the sky was incredibly clear. I looked up at the stars. House and Wilson's gaze followed mine. I was used to the Montana night sky but both of them drew in deep breaths.

"Wow. I've never seen so many stars at night. Look, there's a meteor...wow, another one!" Wilson was standing, his mouth open like a fish, staring up into space.

House pointed out a couple of the constellations and then said, "How insignificant we are."

I squeezed him.

As we entered the hotel, we ran into Cuddy and Chase. They had just come back from getting a bite to eat.

"How are you doing Maddie?" Chase asked.

I still had the hiccups and the sniffles, but I still answered, "Okay."

House said, "I'm taking her upstairs, we brought some sedatives samples for her. She needs to sleep."

"Goodnight Maddie." They said in unison.

The room was warm and inviting. It had been decorated in oak with a brass bedpost. I took my coat off and sat on the bed. House gave me a pill and I dutifully took it. I took my dress off along with my hose and bra and put on one of his dirty t-shirts. He pulled down the sheets and I climbed under them. He got in behind me, spooning me and warming me up after the six block walk.

I could smell him, his arm and the t-shirt all smelled like House. I felt warm and safe and within minutes I fell into a welcomed slumber.

I woke up with my head on House's chest and him snoring lightly. I looked at the clock and it was 8:00 am. I called Jade and arranged for her to bring me some clean underwear, my black trousers and the turquoise blouse that Chu-chu had picked out for me when I was going to another symposium.

Jade had made all the funeral arrangements. She had actually talked to Chu-chu both before we left for Princeton and a few times on the phone when we were in Princeton. Every song and reading had been chose by my daughter.

House woke up a few minutes later rubbing his face with his hand and stretching. "Coffee. I need coffee."

I went over to the little coffee maker and started the coffee for him. I hopped in the warm shower and stayed there for quite awhile until House warned me he was coming in with me if I didn't move my ss. I got out and wrapped in a towel, yielded the bathroom to him.

I used his toothbrush and then ran it in hot water for a minute. Afterwards I went out and put on his shirt to wait for my clean underwear to arrive. Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Jade handed me my clothes and keys to my jeep. She was going to join Kevin in the café before the funeral. I barely remember dressing, everything I did that day seemed to be in a fog.

We got to the funeral home and we had a hard time packing everyone into the chapel. Between the people and all the flowers, no one could move. The casket was at the front and I received so many comments on Chu-chu and her dress and how pretty she was that I was grateful we kept the casket open. They weren't used to seeing the girlie side of her.

House and I took the front row along with Jade, Kevin and Jack. We had everyone fill in the rest of the front pew, no sense it going to waste for family we didn't have. The community of Jordan, Montana had been Chu-chu's family and I later found out that out of a population of 379, 312 had shown up either at the viewing or the funeral, and most at both.

Kevin and Jade got up and went to the podium.

Jade was crying, tears streaming like little rivulets, "Chu-chu planned her entire funeral. This is what she wanted."

Kevin grabbed his guitar and started playing:

Comes a time  
when you're driftin'  
Comes a time  
when you settle down  
Comes a light  
feelin's liftin'  
Lift that baby  
right up off the ground.

Oh, this old world  
keeps spinning round  
It's a wonder tall trees  
ain't layin' down  
There comes a time.

You and I, we were captured  
We took our souls  
and we flew away  
We were right  
we were giving  
That's how we kept  
what we gave away.

Oh, this old world  
keeps spinning round  
It's a wonder tall trees  
ain't layin' down  
There comes a time.

Jack too the podium and cleared his throat. He started to speak again but his voice went hoarse, he cleared his throat again, took a drink of water and looked out into the audience.

"Jade, Kevin and I were at the hospital the day Chu-chu was born. Right away she was a pistol. I went to hold her and she wailed. I put her down and she wailed. She made herself known all over that hospital. The nurses told us that she had a powerful set of lungs.

You couldn't pin her down. She was like the wind, always around but you couldn't keep her still. She grew up eating and breathing dinosaurs. She knew more on the subject than most adults." (There was a murmur of agreement that went through the crowd.)

Chu-chu was funny and loved to play practical jokes. She always had to put a snake in one of the tourists sleeping bags or tell them that the chicken they were eating was rabbit. She'd look up at them and say, "It tastes a lot like chicken, doesn't it?" And the tourists would all nod in agreement. ( There was laughter in the audience.)

She could stir up a hornet's nest too. She's the one who called the demolition company and asked how much it would cost if they would demo her school. Not just demo it, but demo it with one of the teachers she wasn't getting along with inside. When they suspended her for three days, she just took it as a vacation and spent the time running to the north section of Hell Creek with Kevin to look for bones.

We loved Chu-chu, she made our lives so much richer. The only thing she wanted out of life was to meet her Dad. She'd tell me that and ask me if I thought he'd love her? Who wouldn't love her? I am so glad that she got to meet her Dad because it meant that her greatest wish had been fulfilled.

I'm (Jack started to choke here) going to really miss that little piss-ant. She meant the world to me. I like to think of Chu-chu running around heaven putting snakes in St. Peter's bed.

By the time Jack was done, everyone was crying. There were deep sobs throughout the audience, some from very tough, hard-driven cowboys who had a weak spot for Chu-chu. I was numb, I wasn't crying. I was just plain numb.

Jade and Kevin went back up with guitars. They both played and Kevin, who had a great country voice, sang:

As I walked out in the streets of Laredo

As I walked out in Laredo one day

I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen

All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay

"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy"

These words he did say as I proudly stepped by

"Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story

"I'm shot in the breast and I know I must die

"'Twas once in the saddle I used to go ridin'

Once in the saddle I used to go gay

First lead to drinkin', and then to card-playing

I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today

"Let six jolly cowboys come carry my coffin

Let six pretty gals come to carry my pall

Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin

Throw roses to deaden the clods as they fall

"Oh, beat the drum slowly, and play the fife lowly

And play the dead march as you carry me along

Take me to the green valley and lay the earth o'er me

For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong"

We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly

And bitterly wept as we carried him along

For we all loved our comrade, so brave, young and handsome

We all loved our comrade although he done wrong.

There were poems read and people who came up to say a few words. All said, Chu-chu had planned a lovely funeral. I stood up with House and we drove the few miles to the cemetery. She had a spot near a school buddy who had been killed in an auto accident a year ago. I watched the casket being lowered and when the clods of dirt hit the top of the casket I buried something in me with her. I wondered if I'd ever be able to feel that overpowering love again? Would I be given the chance? I knew that if I stayed in Jordan, I'd never be a mother again. I'd just about dated the most eligible gene pool in town and none of them were worth much when it came to chromosomes.

The wake was roudy. Lots of drinking by lots of people, except me, I just didn't feel like drinking. Lots of food was brought by lots of townfolk. Lots of laughing went on as each person gave up a story about Chu-chu. It was really rather endearing. I didn't know she had been so ornery. House was so drunk by the end of the night that he couldn't even hold his head up long enough to make one of his acerbic comments. We enlisted four big cowboys to carry him to the car and then to his room at the Garfield.

I drove myself home. I knew that they all had a flight the next day back to Philadelphia. I assumed that Chase would drive then to Billings since he and Lisa had driven up from the airport in a rental car. If they were going to make the flight, they needed to leave Jordan by 10:00 am. I spent the night tossing and turning, planning what I needed to do next.

My grant was going to run out at the beginning of summer. I could hang around and work on Jack's grant for awhile, but my goal was to have a teaching job by fall. It was time to move on.

The next morning I drove into Jordan at 9:00 am. When I arrived they were all at the local café having something to eat, except House. He was wearing shades and leaned up in the booth with a cup of coffee in front of him.

I nodded at the blob in the corner of the booth, "Still drunk?"

Chase laughed, "Yeah."

House cleared his throat, "Speak for yourself." he sat up and looked around. "I need a hair of the dog that bit me."

Wilson frowned, "You do not. You need to get sober so they let you on the plane."

"Fine I can drink on the plane then."

Cuddy was shaking her head and trying to eat her fruit bowl.

"I wanted to personally come into town to thank you all for coming, it meant an awful lot to me. And thanks Jim, Greg, for driving my jeep home."

"What are you going to do now?" Wilson asked with concern in his voice.

"Chu-chu was adamant. She told me it would be a waste if I didn't try to find some happiness after she was gone. She wanted me to live, not dry up. I'm going to work here for awhile, but I'm hoping to find a job at a University. It's about time I found a job that paid me enough to eat."

They all chuckled, except for House. "You'd move away? Away from Jordan?"

"Of course, this has been a nice place for the last eleven years, but I'm not from here. I'm from Mt. Shasta, California. "

"You could move away from Chu-ch?" House asked, with some surprise in his voice.

"Yes. Greg, it was you who reminded me just a few days ago that her body isn't her. She's gone. And more importantly, she wanted me to go be happy. She wanted me to find someone and get married. I'm not going to do that here." I let out a deep sigh, "Anyway, I'm going to get goin'. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate everything you all have done for me. Hopefully we can stay in touch. And I'd be happy to put you up anytime, no matter where I land."

Wilson, Chase and Cuddy got up to hug me and give me kisses. I turned towards the booth and saw that the sunglasses were aimed in my direction. I didn't expect anything from him and I got nothing. He just nodded and I nodded back. That was the last image I had of House in my mind. A hung over blob who nodded a goodbye to his daughter's mother.


	5. Chapter 5

**PRINCETON**

**CHAPTER 26**

**DRUNK AND LONELY AT PPTH**

Cameron stood over the prone House who was laying limply on the office carpet. "House, why are you here?' She kicked him in the foot, "Damn it, "You're drunk again."

"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor and not have to hold on." He smiled.

"I don't understand why you have to drink?"

"I drink to make you interesting, Cameron."

Cameron kicked him in the sole of his shoe again, "You need a taste of reality."

"Reality is an illusion created by alcohol deficiency. I'm trying to rectify that." He put his hand over his eyes to shade them from the light she had turned on.

She shook her head and drew her lips tight, "Since you came home from Montana, you've been even more difficult to be around than usual." Cameron became sad and concerned, "What are you doing to yourself? You shouldn't be drinking."

"Booze may not be the answer, but it helps me forget the question."

One floor below, Lisa Cuddy was collapsed in her chair. A tired looking Wilson sat across from her, his forehead in his hand.

"If he won't go there, where will he go?" Lisa asked...

"The only thing he talks about doing is going back to see his daughter."

"His daughter or Maddie?"

"Maybe, in his mind they're one and the same." Wilson shrugged.

"Has he talked to her since he got back?"

"Not that I know of."

"Not even to see if she was okay?"

"Christ Lisa, he's barely hanging in there by a thread, do you really think he's going to take time to take the pulse of someone else's emotions?"

"All I know Wilson is that the Board is giving him one month to get dry. When he comes back, if he's drunk on the job one more time, he's out the door. What are we going to do if he won't check into rehab?"

"I'm going to send him up to see his daughter. Maybe that will help, I don't know."

"You mean you're sending him to Maddie? You're going to dump him on her?"

Wilson held his arms out, palms up in frustration, "I'm desperate and Maddie's seems to be his only hope. She's the most down to earth woman I've met in a long time. She's grounded and House needs someone who's grounded, knows what he's dealing with and knows how to accept what's happened and moved on."

"But do you know she's done that?"

"I've talked to her a couple of times. She's finishing her grant and she's got a new job that starts this fall. She did exactly what she told us she was going to do. She's picking up and moving on. Is she hurting? Of course she is. We talk about the little things that remind her of Chu-chu and how hard it can be. It just about killed her on Mother's Day, but we talked for an hour and at the end of it, she said she felt better."

"How often do you call her?" Lisa asked.

"Once or twice a month."

"It's been almost five months and she's getting better while House is sinking deeper and deeper into this chasm of alcohol. Has she agreed to this?"

"No she said right from the beginning that when I called she really didn't want to know about House, so we don't talk about him."

"_She won't even talk to you about him and you think she's going to take him in?_ Wilson, are you sure you can talk her into it?"

"I don't know. I just know I have to try."

**CHAPTER 26**

**TICKET TO JORDAN**

I was out in the field when I got the call. I saw it was PPTH from the caller I.D.

"Jim! How are you?" I dodged under a ridge to give me some shade while I talked to him.

"I hate caller I.D," he said.

"Hey, at least I took your call. Usually when I'm in the field, I don't take calls."

"That's good, I guess."

"You sound strange. What's up Jim?" I leaned up against the side of the ridge, burning up from the heat.

"It's House."

I sighed, I had enough problems dealing with my depression without thinking about Greg House and the problems that came with him. "Jim I thought we agreed that we weren't going to discuss him."

Before I could stop him he started to tell me, "He's been placed on medical leave by the Board of Directors for a month to get sober. Ever since Chu-chu's death he's been drinking and several times this month he's shown up for work drunk. If he doesn't get his act together, they're going to fire him."

There was silence between us. I could have killed Wilson at that point. I had hoped to have Greg House out of my life. He was a complication I just didn't want. He was a very painful reminder of my daughter's last few months and her death. But then, he had been good to us once he found out that Chu-chu was his daughter. He didn't like it, but he never tried to duck his responsibility. I didn't really think I owed him anything, but as someone with compassion, I felt like I couldn't turn my back on the father of my daughter.

"What do you want from me?" I said reluctantly. I started unscrewing the bottle of water in my pack.

"I want to send him to Jordan to dry out."

"_What? You're joking. _Jim, I'm not a rehab counselor. What would I do with him? I'm not some patron saint of lost causes or jerks?"

"He needs to be with someone who's grounded, who knows what he's going through but who is dealing with it in a mature way. He needs to be away from Princeton for awhile."

"But I'm not going to be here for a full month. I have 14 days left of work, seven days to pack and then I move to Philadelphia to start my new job. This is the worse time to send him. I have a four day camping expedition this weekend. How is he going to survive on a camping trip?"

"He'll survive. He and his leg will just have to adapt. I'll send you a prescription for Vicodin so that you can dole them out. He'll have his own prescription, but he'll run out. He pops them so frequently."

"Christ, Jim, I'm not even sure I like the SOB. We have such different views on life. Our priorities are different. Are you sure this will even work?" Jim said nothing. I took a breath, "This really is going to be hard on me. What about rehab down there?"

"He won't go."

"Well how do you know he'll come up here?"

"He keeps saying he wants to go see his daughter."

Now that hurt. The fact that he wanted to make a pilgrimage up to her grave got me, right in the heart. "Oh God. I just know I'm going to regret this. When can I expect him?"

"I'm putting him on a plane tomorrow afternoon...he'll be pretty drunk when he gets there, be prepared. He thinks he's going to Tahitti. You may want to bring someone like Kevin to help you. He gets in around 5:30 p.m. in Billings.

"After this month is over you have to promise me that you'll _never_ mention his name again."

"I promise I won't ask you to take care of him in the future."

"Okay. Email me his itinerary and make sure you pack a backpack for him with things to use on a camping trip to Hell Creek. It will be very hot, so pack him a couple long sleeve shirts to keep the sun off and a brimmed hat if he has one."

"Thank you Maddie."

"Jim, House doesn't know how lucky he is to have you."

"Same goes for you. Thanks. Bye."

I sat on a rock hating myself for saying yes. I was just starting to feel capable of dealing with life again, barely. It was bad enough taking tourists on a bone expedition, now I had to take House. I just hoped he wouldn't send the tourists screaming into the night with his sarcasm and barbs. I went back to the camp and told everyone what was going on. I asked them to lock up their booze around House and not allow him access to anything alcoholic.

Kevin came with me to pick him up. We started to get worried when we didn't see him come down the corridor with the others. Finally, a cute stewardess was pushing him towards us in a wheel chair. He was very drunk, his head bouncing up and down uncontrollably. We stepped forward to take the wheelchair from her. She looked relieved that someone was claiming him.

"We'll take it from here." I said.

"He's really, really drunk. And _mean_," she said, gritting her teeth as she passed him off to us.

"And you're really, really dense and boring." House said to her.

"I'm sorry, we're going to take care of him. He isn't normally this bad." I said.

"No, I'm worse." he waved the flight attendant away.

We went to the baggage carousel and, with no help of House, found his backpack and a duffel bag. We loaded the luggage in the back seat. I wasn't sure what to do with House. We managed to push him and his cane into the front seat and leaned him on the passenger door. Kevin and I got in on the driver's side with me scooting into the middle.

We were on the road when I finally couldn't stand it, "Oh God! He stinks! It's as if his entire body and every pore is full of metabolized alcohol. It's making me sick. Boy, this was a mistake. Why do I let people talk me into these things?"

Kevin smiled, "Hey, I've smelled like that a few times. You know, I like the guy. He's not your typical milk toast jerk. He's witty and he's an equal opportunity offender. I hope you can help him." He paused and patted my knee, "Chu-chu would have wanted it."

"Oh no! I don't believe you just played the dead daughter card! And she's not even your dead daughter!"

We had a good laugh over that.

House was passed out, snoring loudly. It took us three and a half hours to get home because I made Kevin stop twice to let me pee. When we got to camp I opened the door and House almost fell out. I shook him. He opened his eyes just slightly, "Huh? Tahitti?" He turned and looked at me, snapped his head back and closed his eyes as if he was trying to shake the vision out of his brain.

"Come on, let's get you into the trailer so you can sleep it off." I said.

He spoke to me in a soft, surprised voice; like I was an apparition, "Maddie? Maddie?"

I smiled, "Yes?"

"Maddie?"

"Yes, I'm Maddie. What is it Greg?"

"What the F#ck are you doing in Tahiti?"

I rolled my eyes, "Come on, can you walk?" Kevin was standing by me, ready to grab him if he fell. "Come on, here's your cane."

He was so stunned, he had a hard time figuring out where he was. He allowed us to take him to my trailer and put him on my bed. I did this so I could convert the table and benches into a bed for him. Kevin had to get back to cataloguing some new bones we found the day before.

I had the table bed made up, but he was already passed out cold and snoring– loudly– on the full bed in the back bedroom. I decided to leave him there. The trailer was sweltering and so I started to turn on the a/c. But I thought, _What better way to sweat it out of him? _I took a throw and put it over him and went back to help Kevin with mapping the new fossils and bones.

We fed the tourists and most of them bedded down for the night. A few played cards in the mess tent. Kevin, Jade and I sat around our camp, they were drinking beer and talking about the new batch of tourists. I was just thinking about the man in my bed. I was pretty sure my trailer was going to smell like day-old beer when I went to bed.

Around 10 pm we all packed up and went to bed. I opened the trailer screen and stepped inside. It was rancid. I opened up the windows and turned on a fan, facing it in the direction of my bed. House 's sweat soaked through his clothes, leaving them dark and rank. I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and then started to tug on them. His boxers came down with them. I pulled the boxers back and up over his tired willy. I was thinking about all the times I had fondled and made love to him and how he had tried his best to save Chu-chu.

_Poor guy. He didn't even have a chance to figure out how he felt about being a Dad. I pushed into his life with my problems, never thinking what price he would have to pay. I never thought he would be the one to go over the rails. He seemed too mean and impervious to feelings._

I tried to roll him so I could get the wet shirt off, but each time he rolled he'd grunt. I started laughing. He'd roll back and grunt. I'd roll him to the side, he'd grunt. It was like one of those boxes in a teddy bear that growls each time you turn it upside down. I gave up. I got into a t-shirt and crawled under the sheets on the left side of the bed, leaving him to the right side.

**CHAPTER 27 **

**HOUSESITTING**

I woke up around 2:00 am and House was spooning me, nude. I don't know how long he was there, but I had to laugh. What started out as him sleeping on the table had ended with him getting naked and hugging me. I wanted so much to get him into the shower and clean the sheets but it was 2:00 am and I needed sleep...in my own bed. I was sweating too. I rolled over and kicked off the sheet and pushed him to his side. When I woke up, he was draped across me again. I glanced at my clock which read a bright LCD red, 8:00 am. I needed to get going, I had to pack, we were going to take off at 9:00 am for our camping trip with the tourists. I needed to get House going too. I shook him and he opened one eye.

"Hey, wake up. You need to get moving... Greg, come on, get up...now!"

"Maddie?" he was dazed and confused.

"Greg?" I said sarcastically.

"Is this Tahiti?"

"Yeah, and it's time for your Mai Tai." I waved my hands in his face, "Greg, helloooo? You're in my trailer. Come on, get up and take a shower, please? You smell like day old beer and we have to get going."

"Where?"

"We're going up Hell Creek."

He didn't ask anymore questions, he was still trying to get his bearings. He looked around, saw his bag, got up and went over to it. He rummaged inside and found some clean underwear. I threw him a towel and he got into the shower. "Hey, the water is warm. I thought your shower was cold?"

I yelled to him, "Hey, it's summer, moron. It's hot water because it's hot outside. The water is cold when it's cold outside. It comes from a spring that runs partially underground."

I stripped and made the bed, putting the dirty bed linens in a plastic bag to keep them from stinking up the trailer. I started packing my bags, luckily all of the equipment had been packed the day before. Jack stuck his head inside. "Are you and loverboy ready?"

"Not yet, we need another half hour."

"Okay, we're going up to the base camp. We'll give them the lecture and you can catch up."

"Sounds good."

I looked into his bags and started packing from them into one bag. He wasn't going to need everything that Wilson had packed. At least not for the four days we'd be gone. I saw that he didn't have a proper hat, so I grabbed one from my own collection. I stepped inside and closed the door to my bedroom, changing into my shorts, t-shirt and long sleeved sumbrella™ shirt that kept the sun from burning my fair Irish skin. I heard him getting out of the shower. I had set his clothes outside the shower so I assumed he was dressing.

So far, House hadn't gotten a good look at me, but that would soon change. As soon as I opened that door, I would be face to face with him. It was up to me to do what Wilson couldn't, bring him back from whatever dark hole he had crawled into. I felt like the blind leading the blind. There were days when I was so depressed I couldn't see my way out of my own dark place.

I opened the door and stepped out into the main room of the travel trailer. He was standing in his boxers and t-shirt, his hair wet and his head and neck stiff from a hangover. He took one look at me, turned his head and stared sideways at my body. He walked over, leaned down in my face and said, "You were suppose to tell me."

"No, I never promised that. I told you that you would not have any obligations and that meant not even the obligation of knowing. But now you do and here you are."

"I have to admit," he chuckled, "I have no memory of how I got here or why? Did you send for me? Did you miss me?"

"No, I didn't send for you and no, I didn't miss you. _You_ were sent to _me_ by your friends. They don't think you can dry out in Princeton."

"Dry out?" He exhaled and scowled, "I don't have a drinking problem."

"You're on medical leave because you've been showing up drunk at work. At work! I heard somewhere that showing up at work drunk is a good sign that you have a drinking problem! They seem to think that if I take you in for a few weeks, you can shake it."

"I don't have a drinking problem."

"Yeah, and I'm not pregnant."

"Let's talk about that."

"Not now. We have to get going. This is your backpack, I've packed it for the next few days."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going up Hell Creek near the North Dakota border with the tourists so they can play Paleontologist, find some bones, and feel good about themselves. We'll be gone four days."

"I'm not going."

"Fine, you can stay here in camp by yourself until I get back. There won't be any vehicles, you'll have to scrounge some food up from what's left in here. And there's no propane left for the generator, it won't get delivered for several days. So there won't be any air conditioning. They don't call this area Hell Creek for no reason. The temperature is somewhere around 110°F during the day, 90°F at night."

I could see that he was caving. Looking after his own needs in a place like Hell Creek, Montana obviously disturbed him, "Okay, I'm coming."

"Great. Now get your backpack out to the jeep, we're the stragglers and I hate being a straggler."

We piled into the jeep and I began driving. He looked shattered, as if he had been drinking quite a long time. I could tell his body was having a hard time adjusting to being sober. He kept sneaking peaks at my abdomen. He would look and then stare at the floor as if he could burn a hole through it. I couldn't help but curse James Wilson and his ideas. House was thinking too much. It didn't bode well for me.

We caught up to the group and got out to help load the supplies at our little warehouse on State Route 534. Even House got out to help. I could see he knew very little about protecting himself on a dig, so I walked back to the Jeep and grabbed him the hat I had brought for him. I walked over and put the hat on his head, "Silly man, only Englishmen and Dogs go out in the noonday sun. You need to remember this–" I touched the brimmed desert hat, " – it's your best friend while you're here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mother."

I smiled at him and he faked a smile back. We continued to load the jeep and the other vehicles and then headed out. We were bringing up the rear. It would take us three hours to get where we were going to camp.

Most of the trip he slept in the air conditioned car. Finally he woke and I gave him the lecture, "Greg, we need to talk about the next few days. This is a real dig, the tourists help, but we are here to do work. You need to earn your keep out here because you're presence took up the spot that one of the locals would have filled to help us with the dig. Since you took their spot, you do their work. I'll show you what to do. Keep your hat on, lather up with sunscreen, stay hydrated and follow my lead. Oh, and don't screw with the tourists, they paid $1,600 to work their as$ off for us."

He scrunched his forehead, narrowed his eyes and in a loud voice that dripped of frustration, "I don't understand what happened or how I got here and now you're telling me I have to play nursemaid in 110°F heat to some pimped out guy from Beverly HIlls? I've never wanted to work on a dinosaur dig. This isn't my idea of a good time. Tahiti is my idea of a good time. That Mai Tai is my idea of a good time."

"Yeah, well babysitting your drunk ss isn't my idea of a good time either. So I guess we each are in our own little hell. I don't care what you want to do, if you don't work, you don't eat. Simple rule for the hired help."

When we arrived at the camp, we were assigned the last RV. The RV's had been brought up the day before and set up for the tourists. Our RV was smaller than the others and had the funky air conditioner that sometimes cooled down too much and other times failed to cool the RV at all. I pulled out the kitchen table and booth which made a bed and put a set of sheets on it.

"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the table bed." I said. I figured his 6'3" frame was too long for the table bed.

He knitted his brow and said with great sincerity, "You're sleeping there and I'm suppose to sleep back here? How are we going to screw?"

My head must have looked like the kid in the Exorcist with the way it twisted around. I was shaking and my lips were shut tight. "You idiot. You think you're up here for a f#ckfest? I don't even like you! You're a cruel, narcissistic, sad man who can't see the good in front of him if it kicked him in the balls. You're only here because Chu-chu would have wanted me to help you." I paused for a second, "And, I guess I owe it to the baby. But don't go thinking this is some reunion for you to shag me. As soon as I get you dry and thinking straight, you're being shipped off to Princeton."

He gave me a big goofy grin, "Gee, honey, if I had known you missed me that much I would have visited sooner." He dropped the grin and stuck his face a few inches from my face, "Who made you my keeper? I don't have to stay here."

"Yeah, well there's your backpack, here's a bottle of water. I'd start hikin' north, there's a Sioux reservation about ten miles that way. But, be careful, with your mouth they might scalp you."

He clenched his jaw and said, "I'll make enough noise around your paying tourists that you'll take me back to Billings and buy me a bottle of whiskey on the way."

I knew he could make good on his promise and piss off the clients. "You could, but then I promise you that you'll never, ever, see or have contact with this baby. Ever!" I didn't know if my threat meant anything to him. As far as I knew, he could care less about his baby.

He looked soberly at me, taking stock of whether I meant it or not. I took one look in his eye and knew I had hit pay dirt. I had my leverage. But it also told me something else, Greg House was going to be a part of the rest of my life, this baby meant something to him. I had to play this right or I could see him starting some nasty custody battle.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the baby. Every time I thought about it, I was reminded of how I lost Chu-chu; why I had gotten pregnant in the first place. I chastised myself constantly for not going to Princeton sooner; thinking she'd be alive if I had found House when she first got sick. This baby was a just a reminder of those last days with her. I know it's a terrible thing for a mother to say, that I felt nothing for my baby, but it was true. I was hoping that when it arrived, I'd feel something other than despair over what I had lost.

He took his cane and went outside in search of something to drink. The day labor was setting up the chow tent for the tourists. House managed to find the dinner beer stashed in a cooler and sat down in a lawn chair to drink it. I finished making up my bed and went out and caught him about ready to take his first sip. I walked over to him, put my hands on my hips and then rubbed my abdomen with my right hand. He had the bottle at his lips, looking over the amber liquid at me. He stopped, took the beer from his lips and stared, his eyes squinted. I continued to rub my belly.

He said, "F#ck you," and took a swig. I turned around and stomped off. I ran back to the trailer so angry I was shaking. I called Wilson.

"I can't do this. I have a job to do and he's going to get me in trouble with Jack. I'm going to send him back and you deal with him."

His voice cracked, "Maddie, the truth is, I don't know how to deal with him. He has these fits where he throws things, gets angry and no one can get close, physically, to him. He's out of control. You're the only one who can make a difference. You have a calming effect on him. Please, for Chu-chu, keep trying. She wouldn't want her death to be his too."

I hated that everyone was using my dead daughter to cajole me into helping this putrid man, "I'm sorry Jim, I can't, I just can't. I know Chu-chu would want me to help him, but I tried."

"Please don't be upset, but one day with him is not trying, that's one day of pacifying your guilt. You have to give it more time, be patient with life Maddie."

There was silence between us as I ran my free hand through my hair. "I'm sending him back. I'll call you and let you know his flight."

I could hear his disappointment, "Okay, but I beg you to reconsider."

I woke up around 2 am and went outside. I found him under the mess canopy, ten empty beer bottles stacked around him. He was passed out on one of the picnic tables. I shook him over and over until he finally woke up. "Greg, come on. You need to get inside so that you don't frighten the tourists in the morning."

He opened an eye, waved me away and then rolled over. "Fine, stay there, but I know you are curious about this baby and I'll make sure your curiosity stays just that, you'll never have any satisfaction when it comes to information about the baby. I won't let this one know about the father who's a doctor, piano player, long fingers and likes sluts. I'll tell him his father was nothing more than a drunk." I turned to go into my trailer.

He stood up, looked around and then ran as fast as his bad leg would let him after me, "You can't do that. I'll get a lawyer."

"Get one, I'm sure when you parade out all of the millions of friends to you have to tell the judge that you are a paragon of virtues, not to metion your rehab failure, they'll be dying to give you visitation or custody rights."

He shook his head at me and glared. At the top of his voice he said, "What do you want from me?"

I turned, hands on hips and teeth clenched, "Stop your drinking."

He held his empty hands in his air to show he wouldn't drink, "Okay." He put his hands down, when did you get to be so bitchy?"

"Come on, get to bed, tomorrow is lab day. Everyone gets a series of lectures and then they work in the lab so they learn how to identify fossils in the field. You're going to have to work in the lab too, so get some sleep."

**CHAPTER 28 **

**ON A LEASH**

I was out under the mess canopy cleaning some fossils when around 2 pm he ducked his head out of the RV and into the sunlight. The brightness of the sun sent him scampering back inside. A few minutes later he was crossing the path and standing in the middle of the RV's looking around in a ball cap and sunglasses.

I shook my head, it was too hot to just stand out in the sun. I glanced over to the lab canopy and saw Jade giving the morning lesson on how to conduct field recovery of fossils. I jumped up and walked over to him. I grabbed his arm and he looked down coldly at my hand, "Come on, let's get under the mess tent." We walked back over and I motioned to one of the picnic tables under the canopy. He sat down and rested his cane on the table. I looked around at the numerous RV trailers that had been set up in a horseshoe, with the mess tent in the middle "There will be one more lecture and then the rest of the afternoon is for everyone to kick back. The real work begins tomorrow." I grabbed two bottles of water and handed him one, "Stay hydrated." We both took a swig while we eyed each other.

I broke the silence, "Why? Why did you start drinking?"

"Who says I have a drinking problem?"

"Are we going to keep dancing around the subject? Why do you go to work drunk?"

He looked away and smirked, "Because I'm getting a head start on New Year's Eve?" I gave him a disgusted look. He finally rolled his eyes, "We're going to be dead in the end, aren't we? I'm having trouble drumming up a good reason to go save people who are just going to be dead anyway."

"You mean dead like Chu-chu?"

"Yeah, like Chu-Chu, like everybody. We all die, so who cares if it's sooner than later?"

"You make no sense. Chu-chu lived, she was full of life, she enjoyed herself while she was here, right up to wanting to see the reptiles at school just before she died. She went out kicking and screaming. You have no right talking about death before you even start living. And I don't know what you've been doing, but it isn't living." I watched him. He looked sadder than usual; his eyes more distant. "Did Chu-chu and I have anything to do with your drinking?" He didn't say anything. He drank his water. "Do you miss her? Is that what this is, you miss your daughter?"

"I didn't know her long enough to miss her," he said defiantly.

"Everybody lies Greg. You knew her long enough."

"What do we do tomorrow?"

He wasn't going to talk about it, at least not yet. I decided to leave it alone for now. "We're going to take the tourists back to Patty's Folly, an outcrop of rock that has a cornucopia of fossils. We're going to continue uncovering the duck-billed hadrosaur we found at the end of last week." I shifted into tourist guide mode, "Now you have to remember to watch out for rattle snakes and scorpions. Our days will be spent prospecting for new fossils and marking the coordinates of finds with handheld GPS units, or digging at the established sites. We use picks and shovels down to the bone layer, then we switch to hand picks and awls. Once we get down far enough, the dirt and sand will be meticulously scraped away from the bones with scalpels and paintbrushes. Our nights will be spent at the lab cleaning the fossils using dental picks and miniature sandblasters and for the larger blocks, jackhammers. I can probably convince them to let you stay at the lab to do your work if you think your leg will cause a problem getting around out at the dig."

"Why here? Why not dig back where your trailer is?"

"This area is the youngest dinosaur-dominant ecosystem we can get our hands on," I explained. "It's right before the extinction, and the strata is all lying flat. It hasn't been deformed by mountain building. The Missouri River flows through it so there are lots of places for badlands to form. It's perfect for us to map the evolution of the ecosystem and the dinosaurs."

He pretended to yawn as if he was bored. "When do we eat?"

"A couple hours from now."

"Good, we have time for a quick one." He wiggled his eyebrows, "You know your breasts are pleasantly bigger but your ss is huge. Still, I could go for some sex right now."

"You better get your hand out and find yourself a shower." I shook my head, "Come on, let's get you inside the trailer, it should be cooled down by now, I turned the A/C on an hour ago. Oh, and if you take one more drink without my permission while you're here, you're gone and you never see me again."

We went inside the RV to get settled. The air conditioning had cooled the trailer down to a chilly 80°F. The RV's were nicer than the trailer I lived in. They were set up for the tourists and the staff. The tourists slept at least two to a trailer, sometimes more if they were a group of friends or family. Each trailer had a selection of DVD's and a television, a refrigerator full of beer, sodas and water (the beer had been removed from ours) and some snacks. When we got inside, House went back to the bedroom and laid down. I went back and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Did Wilson tell you I'm moving?"

By the quick turn of his head towards me, I knew that Wilson hadn't told him. "You're going to leave Chu-chu?" He sounded upset, concerned.

"Leave Chu-chu? Come on Greg, you were the one who said it was just a body. Chu-chu would want me to move on, be happy. I'll come back to see her and my friends." I paused, "Greg, you need to move on, be happy."

He turned and laid his head back. His eyes were closed and I wasn't sure if he was napping or not. He startled me when suddenly he asked, "Where are you going?"

"Philadelphia."

I saw the faintest of smiles come over his face and I knew that meant trouble. He was delighted that I was moving closer to him. I was beginning to worry about that smile and what it meant."

"To do what?"

"I'm going to be the Head Fossil Preparator for the Bahariya Dinosaur Project and PWRF Director of Educational Resources. My home base will be the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, but I will need to travel too."

"Congratulations, that means you get to play with the big boys and girl Paleontologists."

"I already played with Jack Benson, that was considered playing with the big boys and girls. Now I just get paid like the big boys and girls."

He smiled, "Do you get medical?"

"Medical, dental, 401K, travel allowance and my own secretary."

"Good, I'd hate to have to bail your butt out again."

We talked a little about Wilson and the other doctors I knew, his leg, the dig and my plans for the next few weeks.

"I have so little personal things left to my name that packing will take me two minutes. My stint with Jack ends in a week, I have a week off and then a week in transit to Philly, a week to find a place and then I start work."

He slept for an hour and I read a book. I saw him wake up with a startled look, turn to find me. He relaxed when he saw me laying on the bed reading, "I'm hungry." He said as if I was his mother and expected to feed him.

"Let's go see if supper's ready." I motioned out the door.

We got up and joined the tourists, Jack, Jade, Kevin and the day labor for a supper of steak, salad and maccaroni and cheese. It was all good. Kevin started teasing House right off the bat,

"Hey Greg, my truck still stinks from pickin' you up. Mind gettin' in there and cleaning it out?"

"Sorry Kevin, but that's from your jock strap in the back seat. You forgot to take it out when you left high school."

They laughed. Kevin grinned, "What do you think about bein' a dad again?"

"What? She's pregnant? Is that why her ss is like a broadsail and her thighs like tree trunks?"

Jade chuckled, "You just evaded the question. What do you think about bein' a Dad?"

"I'm not sure. I need a little time to adjust. I wasn't expecting to be a father in the first place and now in less than a year, I'll be one twice over."

I kept quiet. My friends were pretty good at asking questions and demanding answers. Everyone was sitting around the table, after dinner was done, drinking beers. That is, everyone but House and I were drinking beers.

We talked until 10 pm and then, as usual, we all went to bed. We typically got up and worked from the time the sun came up until lunch. Then some of us would return to the digs, the tourists and the staff were given the option to wait until 4 pm, when it started to cool down, to work until 8 pm, when we started to lose the best light. Dinner was served at 8 pm. Snacks were available all day.

House and I went back to our RV. When we got inside he turned to me and nodded to the back, "You can take the bed. I'll take this contraption."

"Don't be silly, you're too tall. Go back to the bedroom and sleep."

"Come back and sleep in the bed, I promise not to grope you."

I looked at him and weighed it, "No, I think we better stay apart. I'll be okay up here. Now go get some sleep."

He exhaled and then shrugged as he lumbered back to the bedroom.

The next morning, I got him up at 5:00 am. He was definitely not a happy camper. "I don't give a sh!t if they're serving high tea, I'm not getting out of bed this early."

"Greg, in one hour we turn off the a/c in all the trailers, pack up and go out to the site. You can do what you want for the next hour, but if you don't get coffee in you now, there won't be any coffee at the site, just water. I know how much you like your coffee in the morning, so get your ss up."

He had one eye on me and after a few minutes, he frowned, threw the sheet off and went to the bathroom. He came out and dressed, grabbed his cane and we went to breakfast. After breakfast we all lathered up in sunblock, but on our long sleeve shirts, grabbed the small coolers and started walking with our pick axes, paint brushes, files, the preservant and our plaster.

We could have cut about ten minutes off our walk by climbing over a hill. But with Greg's leg, I decided to take him and another woman, with asthma, around the hill. When we got to the site, the woman joined the group that Kevin was instructing. I took Greg over to a place I had been working on the week before.

"Okay Greg, here, take the GPS so that we can map and coordinate the dig. Once we've done that, you and I will jack hammer the first six inches."

Greg charted the coordinates and the findings in our Find book. I went over and grabbed the small hand jackhammer.

He asked me, "Isn't that dangerous? Won't you break the bones?"

"You might, but I've been doing this for fifteen years, I know when to stop." I took the jackhammer, my least favorite thing to do. The jarring always made me wonder what the baby was filling. After putting on safety glasses, I jacked out a three feet by three feet area and then I gave House a pick ax.

"Now we start chiseling away with the pick ax and this awl. When we get close to the top of the fossil we'll slow and then start using smaller strokes, the hand picks and our paint brush."

House and I chiseled and chipped. It was long, back-bending work that was made difficult by the increasing heat. I brought him over a cold water and we took a break. We sat there, House with his bad leg stretched out and him massaging the thigh. I put on my sunglasses which I couldn't wear while working on the fossil. The sunglasses frequently prevented me from seeing the finer details of the fossil; making it difficult to know where to chisel and when to stop. Some could do it, but I couldn't.

House glanced over at me, took a swig of his water, "It looks like a tibia."

I was please he had recognized it, "It is."

"What type?"

"Hadrosaur."

"Duh?"

"Duck-billed dinosaurs, named because of their similarity of their head to that of modern ducks. In some species, the whole front of the skull was flat and broadened out to form a beak which was ideal for clipping leaves and twigs from the forests. However, the back of the mouth contained literally thousands of teeth suitable for grinding food before it was swallowed."

"Hmm."

"Hadrosaurs were the first dinosaurs found in North America back in the mid-nineteenth century."

House seemed to be genuinely interested in what I was saying. The noon-day sun was a killer and we were all happy when we were given the okay to head back to the mess tent for lunch. After our twenty minute walk, we took comfort under the shade of the canopy. We drank cokes, ate our sandwiches and fruit and enjoyed stretching. After lunch about two thirds of the tourists stayed behind to sit out the hottest part of the day. I got up to go back out and House grabbed my hand.

"Are you a moron? That heat can't be good for the baby. You're going to stress it out. Especially now that it's older. You need to stay out of this heat. I'll go back over and work on the duck thingy, you stay and rest."

I was flabbergasted. He had actually offered to do something for me that hadn't first been prodded out of him. I looked at him and was incredibly confused. Just when I wanted to write this guy off as a total jerk and loser, he'd offer to take my spot on the crew during the hottest and crappiest time of day. I knew that Jack wouldn't make me go out pregnant in this heat, but I wanted to finish up the work I had started and I only had a few days. The more I thought about it, I knew he was right, it wasn't good for the baby. I needed to stay out of the heat during the mid-day.

"You're right. I shouldn't go out until it cools down. You don't have to go either. I'll work a little later tonight. I'm going to start up the a/c in our trailer, we can take a nap or read or whatever..."

"...whatever?"

"I don't mean _that _whatever."

"Are you sure?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't even like you?"

"And you think I like you? You're boring. But we are good in bed together...I just thought..."

"Stop thinking. Boring? You think I'm boring?"

"Tell me what you do for fun?"

I started to think. He was right, I couldn't remember when I had done anything that was exciting or fun in the last five years. My life was boring. I had become boring. The only thing that had been exciting was my sex with him. I felt like a pathetic loser.

"None of your business."

"Aha! Just what I mean. You're boring."

"I hunt dinosaurs...that's not boring."

"You sit around in 110°F with a paint brush sweeping rocks. Boring."

"Yeah, and watching pro wrestling is so exciting and dangerous they won't insure your life."

**CHAPTER 29**

**QUID PRO QUO**

When we got inside I laid down and drifted off into sleep. I was dreaming of having sex with House when I felt his arm around me, pulling my body into him. I slept for a few more minutes and was woken by feelings through my body that I hadn't felt for months. I didn't realized it at first, but it was his hand down my elasticized exercise shorts and his fingers between my legs that was sending this feeling searing through my loins.

If I had been smart or, if I had been stronger willed, I would have pulled away. Instead, I pushed back into him to give him an easier angle to rub me. He continued until my body started to flush with warmth and my muscles contract. He pulled down my shorts and panties, stroking my pubic hair and then continuing to slip his fingers in and out, applying continuous pressure. I started coming, "That feels so good, I...ohoh..ooooo, yeah, yeah...damn you, that's the spot...oh man..." The orgasm was short but sweet. As my body relaxed, he pulled his hand out and I heard the zipper on his shorts unzip. He lifted lift my leg and penetrated me from behind, bending me forward a little for deeper penetration. I was wet and he moved in me easily. When he came, it was with sharp, small grunts in my ear. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I wasn't sorry he had taken advantage of me being asleep. In fact, I wanted to start it all over again. Only this time, I wanted to see him enter me, screw me, pleasure me. I wanted to feel his tongue in my mouth and his lips on my nipples. I wanted all of him.

After it was over and I was able to collect my thoughts, I was embarrassed. I had let him have me without so much as a single protest. I cursed my very willing body. The problem is that I am exceptionally horny during my second trimester and would jump a cactus if it could get me off. As we lay there, he brought his hand up and placed it over my abdomen. His fingers were so long that I could feel his hand stretch over the entire protrusion of my abdomen. The baby started to move under House's hand. There was a kick and I heard House chuckle, then kiss me on my ear. Chills ran down my body, this wasn't good.

He snuggled up and kissed me in the crook of my neck. I started to say something and he said, "Shhh. I know. You don't even like me."

"You're mean."

"Is that the best you can come up with..."

"Christ, you just gave me a great orgasm, hard to come up with derogatory remarks about the guy who did that. Let the afterglow dissipate and I can come up with some more definitive adjectives to tell you what I think about you."

"Well, while you think of more things to call me, I'll just take a nap."

I pulled my panties and shorts back on me. And despite my efforts to remove his hand, he kept slipping it down my shorts and over my abdomen, on top of the baby. I gave up after removing it several times. I just let him hold me that way. I really wanted a nap before I headed back out into the heat. I woke up an hour later and his hand was still resting that way when I opened my eyes.

I looked at the clock, it was 3:00 p.m. I started to get up and this time he grabbed me in earnest, pulled me back towards him and reached up my t-shirt. He kissed me, using that tongue of his. It slipped through my lips and curled around my tongue. He pulled my t-shirt up and over my head.

"Greg, you don't really want this."

He chuckled and pushed up against me with his hard on to prove that he did want me.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. This is probably not a good idea. I'm suppose to be taking care of you."

He pushed up on his arms, looked down and smiled as the crows feet around his eyes crinkled, "Oh, believe me, this is taking care of me."

I didn't stop him from taking my clothes off again. I had never let a man see me naked and pregnant. He didn't seem to really care what I looked like, he was just interested in the breasts that had enlarged substantially since he had last seen them.

"I keep thinking this is a mistake."

"I..donnn...ink...ooo." He was saying something by it was made unintelligible by the fact that he was smothering himself in between my breasts. He pulled his head up and said, "God, I didn't think sex with you could get much better, but these breasts are...whewww. Will they go away after the baby is born?"

"After I'm done breast feeding."

He was already naked from his last go around. I took a look at his erection. He was really ready and I was so horny, I just wanted to let him rip. He alternated between sucking my nipples, tickling the tips of them with his tongue and his deep french kisses.

"Jesus Christ, can you just get my shorts off and start screwing me." My entire body was aching for him to ride me.

"Testy aren't we?" He pulled my shorts and panties down and then pulled a pillow from the bed and stuck it under my rear end. He pushed my legs open and mounted me. When he pushed inside he closed his eyes and exhaled. He opened them up slowly and held his breath. He looked into my eyes and as he started to thrust he simply said, "You like me. You just don't _want_ to like me."

I wasn't really listening to him. I was concentrating on the fact that he fit so well. Not too big, not too long, not to short, not too small...I just loved the way we fit together. With each thrust I wanted to keep him inside. Just keep him inside. I clamped down on him and he let out a little moan. I started bucking. He met me with each buck and we both started breathing like marathon runners.

I realized that I was about to come and it wasn't going to be pretty. I told him, "Christ, I feel like I'm going to implode." I don't know if it was the angle, the fact that with every thrust he stimulated my G spot or the fact that I was incredibly horny, I could feel the pleasure rise so hard and fast that I wanted to cry. I screamed out so loud that Greg came down on my mouth with a hand and then his mouth, laughing into me as sounds came out that I know were from some wild animal. The contractions were uncontrollable and Greg went from laughing to moaning. His face scrunched up in a mixture of his own pleasure and release. I was breathing hard as the contractions started to slow. Then I wanted him out. I was so sensitive that the slightest movement was uncomfortable. He was still coming. I waited and when he stopped thrusting, I rolled him off of me.

There was a knock on the door. It was Jade. She opened the door and yelled back to me, "Are you okay? We could hear screaming."

My voice was wavering, but I managed to yell out to her, "I'm okay..."

House yelled too, feigning a high wavering voice like mine, "I'm okay too..."

She got the point. She started giggling, "Girl, you're in deep sh!t." We heard the RV door close.

I laid back and felt myself slip into a world I didn't know how to live in...I was having sex with a man who'd rather refer to me as a moron than tell me he cared for me. I was leaving behind my friends, my dead daughter, my memories. It had been years since I had lived in a city. I had never lead a department in an academic situation. I was frightened, sad, excited, worried, anxious and happy all rolled into one. And on top of all of this, I was having a baby.

I got up to take a shower. House stayed in bed, "I'd join you but the damn thing's too small. I'll wait for you to get out."

We got dressed and went back out to the dig site. When we passed by Kevin he gave House the thumbs up sign. Jade was smiling and some of the tourists were whispering. I must have been really loud.

I worked through dinner. I knew Jack would put a plate aside for me. House stayed with me and worked too, complaining the whole time, but working. We accomplished a lot on the site over the next few days. Once we exposed the bones we had to be careful not to chip or break them. We painted them with a substance that hardens in the pores of the bone and preserves them, keeps them from cracking or chipping. Then we cut a block or the stone around the bones. Before transporting the block of stone or continuing to work on it, we plaster jacket the side facing up so we can either turn it over and continue to work on freeing the bone from the rock or send it to the lab tent or museum to finish the freeing process. We also use the plaster to make impressions of footprints and fossil imprints in rocks.

House had stopped moaning and groaning about being on a dig. He was beginning to read at night about Paleontology and, during the mid-day break, he would go into the lab tent to watch Jade and Kevin work and to help out when he could. His knowledge of bones and the way they fit together allowed him to work on assembling some of the dinosaur bones we had found. He found a few fossils during our walks and he was allowed to keep them since they were just teeth and claws. We always let the tourists keep the teeth and claws unless they belong to a bigger, more intact find.

We slept in the bedroom and I hated myself every time I responded to his arm pulling me over to him. We made love every night just before we went to sleep. I was sleeping like a baby. The best sleep I had gotten in years. I even slept through his snoring. He loved rubbing my abdomen as we went to sleep. It felt comforting and I admit, I enjoyed it. More often than not, he felt a couple of moves from the baby, which I assume is why he did it.

The last night of the dig he asked me if he could have a beer. "I just want one, it's hot and they're serving Mexican food. What's Mexican food without a beer?"

He hadn't had anything to drink since the first night, so I said yes. He had one Dos XX and then stopped. He didn't ask for another one. He just came to bed, threw the covers off of me and took my top off. He took one of his long fingers and traced circles around my nipples and down my chest and abdomen. He reached over and flicked my nipples lightly with his tongue. I reached down and felt his semi-erection which pulsed and hardened when I touched it. House looked at me, smiled and said, "I've never f#cked a pregnant woman before. I suspect that in a month I won't be able to do it from the front.

"In a month you won't be doing it at all." I said with conviction, "This is convenient sex and I'm horny. So you're lucky that there has been a convergence of two events, you being here and me being ready to screw anything that moves.'

He went back to flicking my nipples and then sucking them. He grabbed them and smothered his face between them before kissing me down my abdomen and then between my legs. He opened the folds and looked at his target. He flicked his tongue in the same way over my clitoris as he did my nipples. I shivered. He took his sweet time making me come, teasing me with a steady rhythm and then breaking the rhythm up. Finally, he licked and sucked so much that nothing could stop what was coming. I wouldn't let him raise his head. I had one hand on it to make sure he stayed in one spot. I started thrusting up slightly to meet his tongue. I started screaming and this time there was no hand or mouth covering mine. When I was done, I pushed his head away to stop the now uncomfortable sensations coming from what had just given me so much pleasure. He was very excited. He laid me on my side and entered me, thrusting half a dozen times before he pumped and emptied into me over and over. He fell over to the side and began laughing.

"I'm surprised there aren't a dozen people in here wanting to know if you're okay."

"That heat saps you, I think most of the tourists could sleep through anything after a day in it."

"Sex feels so good after being out there. I wonder if they're too busy getting the to worry about you and your screaming."

"Maybe... now hold me and cover up, the baby and I need some sleep."

I was beginning to get used to sleeping with him. He'd wrap and cuddle me just as I would drift off. I slept balled up in his arms. I knew this wasn't a good sign, me feeling comfortable with him. I had to remind myself of how cruel he could be, how damaged he was, how he could be manipulative and devious. But still, I loved having those long arms around me at night. I felt safe.

We had gotten to know each other on the dig. There's not much to do while you're using a paint brush to sweep away dirt from bones except talk. He told me a lot about growing up as a military brat. It sounded a lot like his father was a rabid disciplinarian growing up. House would get sarcastic and acerbic when he spoke of his Dad. I wondered what his mother was doing while House was being disciplined. House couldn't bring himself to say anything negative about his Mom.

"You know Greg, you need to let go and forgive your Dad."

"What crap."

"I mean it, holding the anger in does nothing but damage you. Is your Dad suffering because you're angry? No. Your Dad thought he was making you into a man. Men have stupid ideas like that. If you had a boy, what do you think you'd do?"

"I'd make him wear pink undies and..." He was about to say something stupid, but he took a look at my tummy and stopped talking. There was a silence and then he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know what I would do."

I thought about this man in front of me who honestly wasn't sure how to be a father, but at least he knew that. I reached over and kissed him on the cheek. When I pulled back we stared briefly at each other. I smiled and went back to cleaning the fossilized bone. House did too.

**CHAPTER 30 **

**COMING TO TERMS**

At the end of four days we went back to the trailers and for my last six days on the job, House and I helped in the lab. In the evening of the first night we were back at the trailer camp, I took House out to the cemetery so that he could see Chu-chu's grave. He walked up to it, looked at it, looked at me and then walked back to the Jeep. He sat with the door open and his head in his hands. I let him have some time alone while I talked to our daughter.

"Honey, your Dad is here. He came all the way from Princeton, but I think it's more than he bargained for. You know I love you, but I've got to move on. This place makes me sad, especially without you. But I will come back and visit and bring your sister or brother to see you." I paused and looked down at the flat marker with the little cowboy hat on it, "Well, honey. Your mommy loves you. Good Bye and big hugs."

When I walked back to the car I went to the open passenger door. "Greg, why are you trying so hard to pretend like all of this meant nothing to you?"

He looked at me, was about to say something, but stopped. He snorted, shook his head and said, "If I let myself feel this, I have to feel everything...my father, my leg, Stacey, the baby...I don't think I can do it."

I understood. "Greg, your feelings are gates. If you push back the bad feelings, the good ones can't get in either. I know, I shut down after my Mom died. I couldn't feel good or bad for years. I felt numb. But once I fell in love with Chu-chu, I had to deal with the pain of losing my own mother and being abandoned by my father. It was that or not allow myself to love her like I wanted. I listen to you talk and all your life you've been shutting one gate after another. You're going to have to admit how much you feel Chu-chu's loss, it's the only way you're going to make room for good feelings. You have to admit to yourself that you wanted her in your life, you wanted to know her, you wanted to love her and be loved by her. You have to admit you're angry at me for keeping her from you, angry at her for leaving and angry at yourself for not giving her everything she wanted from you. Stop spending your energy denying these things and start using it to deal with them."

"Jesus, you are so full of crap. Where did you grow up, on a commune?"

I shook my head and got in the driver's side. We went back to town. That night when we got ready for bed, he sat on the edge and looked down. I came out of the bathroom. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to me. He looked like he was crying, his shoulders were heaving up and down. I didn't know whether to touch him, hold him or let him be.

"Greg?"

He didn't face me. He spoke in a voice that was shaking, "I'm so fucking angry at you. I hate you for not telling me about her, I hate you for telling me about her." He paused, "I was enjoying her. She was funny, smart, and she loved me the way I am. She didn't care that I was damaged. To her I was cool, I was her Daddy. I was just getting to know her, enjoy her, teach her...let her teach me..." He shook his head, "It felt like losing my father, my leg, and Stacey all over again."

"I'm sorry that I didn't find you earlier. We might have been able to save her. I also realize how much she loved you and I feel guilty that I deprived her of that most of her life. I know now that you were good for her and she was good for you. I'm grateful that she had her last weeks with you. I have a lot to regret and a lot to be grateful for, but I am truly sorry for what we did to your life."

I was on my side of the bed. I climbed up on my knees over behind him and put my arms around him and kissed his neck. He cried and I felt useless, unable to take the pain from him. He hung onto my arms like a life-raft. After a minute I pulled him back onto the bed and held him while he clung onto me. After a few minutes he was asleep. I rolled over and turned the light out while still holding him on my chest. When we woke up during the night, we climbed under the covers and switched places. He held me to his chest and we slept like that until we woke the next morning.

During the nights of my last week in Jordan, we played cards with Kevin and Jade or went into town and ate dinner. He'd have one drink at night and then stop. He was funny, teasing just about everyone who came over to say hi to him when we were in town. They were all excited that I was with the father of Chu-chu and the baby. By now everyone knew the story behind the baby and how we tried to save our daughter by conceiving another child. In their romantic world, House and I belonged together so that we could raise our beautiful child, the child they thought would replace Chu-chu. None of them knew the real Greg House or that I had no feelings for the child I was carrying.

House had feelings for the baby. He talked to it all the time about anything and everything. He told it that my butt was as big as a truck; that Paleontology was boring; that James Wilson was a pansy; women are wicked; and tons of trivia that was useless except as fodder for parties. He talked to it at night and in the morning. He would rub my belly all the time, when I'd let him. When we would make love he would kiss my belly after making me come. His attention to the baby worried me. I wasn't sure what was going to happen or what he was going to do when the baby came.

After my job was done, I made House get us a hotel room in town. "So, why don't we leave, move you to Philly? What's here?"

"I need a little time in Hell Creek, to say goodbye, without worrying about tourists or anyone else's needs. It's going to be my farewell hike. I'm going to go out overnight, take some photos and I'll be back the next day. You can stay here, read, talk to people, do what you want and then we can leave when I get back."

He didn't say anything. We went to a movie and then we had a milk shake on the way back to the hotel. We got into bed and he pulled me over to him. "No, Greg, not tonight. I'm too full from the milkshake, plus I just need a break."

"What makes you think I want sex? I just wanted to keep you from falling off the bed." He pulled me on my side into him to spoon and kiss my neck. I fell asleep like that and slept until the next morning.

I got up and packed my backpack with food, water, flashlight, my headlamp, some biodegradable toilet paper, my hand pick, gps, cell phone, sunblock, camera and a bed roll. House started packing the same things into his backpack.

"What do you think you're doing?" I said to House as he started packing a bag.

"I'm going with you."

"No. I'm going to be hiking some rough areas. You'd find it too rough with your leg."

"I'll tough it out."

I was pissed. The last thing I wanted was someone slowing me down. I had planned my last hike through a specific area that was hilly. I wanted to get into some gullyes I hadn't been in since the last big rains a few years ago. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop him.

"You better not slow me down," I warned.

"Don't worry, I'm just going in case you need someone to diddle you."

I rolled my eyes. I drove us up State Route 543 about forty miles and then drove in six miles east on an off road onto the gravel gulleys that mark that area. We parked on a ridge overlooking the revised route I would have to take because he was with me. It was a quarter of a mile out of my way, but it would accommodate his bad leg. I pointed to the hills about five miles away. "That's where we're going. Are you sure you want to do this? You can take the jeep back and come get me tomorrow."

"I know, you're meeting someone out here and you just don't want me to know it," he teased.

"Yeah, me and Wiley Coyote...Oh baby, beep, beep."

His lips curled up, "Come on, let's get going."

We lathered up with sunblock, put on our hats and started walking. He told me about his Vicodin addiction. According to him, it wasn't an addiction, it was a necessity to live with the pain in his leg. He made me laugh. Despite the fact that we were talking about a serious subject, he had me in stitches over his attempts at rehab. He started telling me about the losers in his group therapy. "One guy thought he was addicted to Midol. He was having a hard time dealing with the emotional humiliation of having a Midol addiction, having to buy the bottles and hide them. Then he discovered his wife had been switching them out for Oxycontin because she was pissed at him for screwing his boss."

Once I stopped laughing, I looked around at the geology of the area. It was incredible. You could see the layers of different formations in the sides of the ridges going up the hills and mountains. "I love it out here. I hate the heat, but I love the scenery. God dropped this in our back yard to teach us about our history. We just have to be diligent and smart enough to uncover it."

"Geology did this, not God."

"I know you don't believe in God, but when I look at a Dinosaur I can't help but believe. I don't necessarily believe in a God that goes around caring whether we have pre-marital sex, but I believe in a life force."

"Sex is the life force."

"But what is life?" I asked.

His eyes crinkled and his lips turned up. He snorted and said, "You want to see life?"

"I suppose this is where you show me your erection?"

"Only if you want me to..." he smiled sardonically.

"Have you ever been in love?"

" A couple of times. The last one was enough." House put on his sunglasses.

"Why?" I was twirling my hand pick and looking at the rocks beneath my feet as we talked.

"She let them cut the muscle in my leg."

"Let them?" I glanced over at him to see his expression. He looked normal, no reaction.

I gave orders not to cut the muscle. When I was unconscious she had my power of attorney and gave the doctors authority to do it."

"Oh, God, I'm sorry. Did that end it?"

"No, it lingered, sputtered, gasped and died six months later. It wasn't pretty."

"What happened to her?" I put the bottle of cool water up on the back of my neck to cool me down.

"She married a pussy."

"Oh. Are you still in love with her?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer and even then I didn't want to know why I didn't want to know.

"Probably. To some extent. But, it's over, I sent her back to her husband."

"Sent her back?" I said, occasionally kicking a rock or two as we walked along the gully. House would use his cane to knock a few rocks around too.

"We had a toss in the hay and then I sent her back to her husband."

"Oh, was this the one you cheated on in San Diego?" I tried to sound nonchalant.

"Yeah, that would be her." He looked down and knocked back a rock.

"You mentioned a Stacey the other night at the cemetary, was that her?"

He nodded and then bent over, "What's this?" He started pushing around the dirt with his cane.

"You sound sad when you talk about her. I can see it was hard for you." I looked down at what he was kicking and smiled. "Damn Greg, you've got a T-Rex tooth!"

"That's cool." he picked it up and fingered it. It was about three inches long in the shape of a sharp fang.

I slowed down, walked over to the ridge and started poking around. I bent down when I saw something gray-white. It was a bone, but I was going to have to do a little digging to figure out what it was. I got down and started picking at it. When I realized what it was, I stood up and stepped back to look at the entire ridge. Then I went another six feet over and saw another piece of bone. My stomach turned, the baby kicked and my heart started racing. With my racing heart and the searing heat, I started to get woozy. House looked at me funny.

"Are you okay? You look whiter than your bare ss..."

He was still talking but I was sinking. He grabbed me and held me up. When I still couldn't stand on my own power, he lowered me slowly onto the ground and then took my pulse. He pulled my head up and gave me some water. He stood me up and walked me over to the shade under the ridge of an adjacent hill.

I sat up even though I was still a little clammy. "Greg, listen to me, listen good. The point I was at over there, mark down the GPS coordinates to it. I want you to look at the side of that hill. Look hard and tell me what you see?"

He looked at the hill. It stood from six to twenty feet high in parts. The hillside had been knocked loose from the rains. There was gravel spilling down from the side revealing four areas of dark gray and white rock formations about three feet up from the ground. House went over and touched one of the formations. It was a fossilized bone. He turned and looked in my eyes.

"They look like bones, but they're too big. What are they?"

I nodded and smiled, "They're bones. They're big bones. We just found a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Not just part of one, but it looks like we found quite a bit of one. You see that, that's the back of his skull, those six protrusions are part of the forty vertebrae and that, that's the pelvic bone. You'll want to save that tooth...it's now worth a fortune."

"What do you mean?"

I grabbed onto him and made him sit down. I opened a bottle of water and shared it with him. I sat there with my hand over my mouth laughing. I could see he was confused and worried. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, "Sue at the Field museum in Chicago is the most complete T. Rex. She's 80 complete. She sold for $8.4 million dollars. I'm sitting here looking at a partially exposed skull. Hopefully, the rest of it is under that hill of rock. Most T. Rex's have 50 or less of their structure when found and they still sell in the millions, depending on whether they have their skull and tail. That skull alone is worth $350,000. Greg, we just hit pay dirt."

Greg smiled and hugged me, "We didn't, you did."

"No, you don't understand, I came this way because of your leg. I would have been 500 feet to the east going up that rocky hill if not for you. You found that tooth which made me start paying attention. This wasn't the area I was going to start searching for bones. Without you, I would have missed this altogether. This is our find. I can't take full credit for it, I wouldn't."

"I don't understand people like you."

"People like me?" I asked.

"Generous, hard-working, honest saps like you."

"I couldn't live with myself any other way."

"I don't know how you survive in a world like this. You're fodder for every Kirby Vacuum salesman out there."

"I do just fine."

He laughed at me and then he kissed me, hard.

**CHAPTER 31 **

**CHU-CHU**

We didn't move for half an hour. I needed time to think and digest what had just happened. House leaned back on the side of the hill, I leaned on his chest. We both stared at the rock formation. The sun started to shorten the shade we had taken shelter in and, rather than get fried, I decided it was time to take action. I stood up, "I think we need to go back to see Jack, he can broker our find for us." I reached down and gave House a hand. He got up and we walked back to the jeep, giggling and making jokes.

When we got to the jeep, I felt guilty. I knew House had no idea of what this all meant. I looked over at House as he climbed into the Jeep. I looked him as serious as I could, "Greg, your life is about to change."

He roared.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sitting in Hell Creek, Montana with a woman pregnant with my second child, trying to deal with the death of my first child, working on getting my job back and you sit there and tell me that my life is going to change."

I smiled and said, "It does sound absurd. But really, you have no idea."

"Does it mean more chicks and better drugs?"

I raised one eyebrow, "Right, that's exactly what it means."

"Then bring it on."

We drove back to Jordan and called Jack and Jade. I asked them to meet us in the café. We got to the café first, laughing and smiling as we sat in a booth. We sat on the same side, holding each other's hand. I don't know why I needed to hold his hand, but it wasn't him holding mine. I was the one who couldn't let go; I was so nervous and anxious, I needed him to keep me calm.

"I'm starved and the baby is moving around like mad."

House put his hand on my abdomen and smiled, "If we feed it, will it rip through your abdomen and go zipping around the restaurant?"

"You've seen too many science fiction movies."

We ordered two large salads and two chocolate malts. Once May brought us our food I tucked in and began demolishing the salad. We were eating when Jack and Jade walked in and took the seat across from us. Jack started chuckling when he saw me eating like there was no tomorrow. He knew that I only ate like a horse when I was excited.

"Okay you two, spill the beans." Jack leaned back into the booth.

I started to talk with my mouth full and it wasn't working. So I tried to swallow the food, "Greg and I found a T.Rex."

Jack's mouth formed an "O" and his eyebrows lifted, "How much?"

"I could see a skull, six vertebrae and a pelvic bone."

"Oh, sh!t Maddie. We need to play this right. We're going to have to bring on a University and get a crew to excavate. Don't give anyone the GPS coordinates yet. Not until we get everything in place. I know the lawyer who brokered Ivan. I'll get him involved."

House looked confused, so I explained, "Ivan is another T. Rex. He's 65 complete and in a museum in Witchita. He sold for $4.0 million." I turned back to Jack, "I have to start my job in just about two weeks so I'm going to need your help here."

Jack tilted his head, "I think you need to talk to your new employers about the publicity that's going to surround you."

"You're right." I nodded, understanding the impact, "You're right."

"Greg, has she told you what you can expect?"

"She says my life will change. I'll start to like country, wear Old Spice and hump Sheep." House smiled. Jade, Jack and Maddie all laughed.

"You're going to get a nice check when this is over," Jack said.

Jade smiled, "Greg, you lookin' for a good woman? I'm single."

"I'm looking for an easy woman, not a good one." House lamented.

"I can be that too!" Jade smiled. Everyone laughed.

Jack put his hand on Maddie, "Maddie, what do you want to name the Rex?"

I looked into House's eyes, my mind already made up, but wanting to make sure that he was okay with it. I searched his face trying to read him, make sure I wasn't going to step on his toes. House tilted his head and squinted, gave me hand gestures and said,"Okay, Two syllables, sounds like?" He pretended to be playing charades.

"I just thought, if you agree, we could name the Rex Chu-chu."

"Chu-chu hardly seems vicious enough to be a T. Rex." he said.

Jade spoke up, "Neither does Sue or Ivan, but they're standing in museums as we speak."

House glanced out the window of the café at the little town that had been the home to his daughter. She was the smart little girl who wanted to be buried so she could be part of an archeological dig thousands of years from now. She would be over the moon to know that a T. Rex was named after her. He felt a lump in his throat. He turned back to Maddie and nodded.

I could see he was close to feeling something he didn't want the others to see so I immediately jumped up to distract everyone. "Great, it's decided, now I have to go to the bathroom." I smiled and everyone's eyes followed me, giving House the time he needed to compose himself.

The T. Rex would be named, Chu-chu.

The attorney was flown in from New York. I insisted that Montana State University be awarded the rights to excavate so that Jack could head up the team. I told House, "We could get a bigger University, like Berkeley or Harvard, but I know that Jack will look out for us. Plus it means full employment for Jade and Kevin. I told the University they could have the rights if they would employ Jade and Kevin at a salary twice of what they receive now and with health benefits. It's a small price for them to pay to get the rights."

On the day that we were to reveal the GPS coordinates and drive to the site of the T.Rex, I was terribly excited. CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox, Discovery and NBC were all sending someone to film and cover ther reveal. Maddie could have gotten to the site without GPS coordinates but at 9:00 am, Maddie called them in to Jack, the state and the University of Montana. The University provided them to the media who immediately took off in caravan for the site.

Maddie, House, Jack, Jade and Kevin had gone out to the site an hour before.

"Jesus Maddie, this is huge." He said as he took his hand and rubbed the vertebrae. He was smiling and extremely happy. "I'm so glad it was you. It would have been better if it was me, but you were a close second. You deserve something good in your life. Besides the baby that is."

The media filmed House and I next to the ridge with me pointing to the skull and House pointing to the pelvic bones. We answered questions, most of House's were cut since they tended to infer something sexual or perverted. Of course most of the interview was of Jack Benson since he was the celebrity.

We finally signed a contract in which House and I would receive 50 of the sales price of the dinosaur and we would have the ultimate right to determine to whom the dinosaur would be sold. The state would received 25 of the sales price because the dinosaur was on state property and the remainder would go to various entities including Montana State University to pay for the excavation. I wanted the dinosaur to stay in the United States. House didn't care, he was just along for the ride.

**CHAPTER 32**

**CROSSING JORDAN**

The last night before Maddie was to leave Jordan, everyone met in the local tavern for a send off. They kept asking House over and over, "When are you two getting married?"

House had one response, "She doesn't even like me." Each time he'd say it, Maddie would laugh.

Everyone was there, most of the people from the town who had been Chu-chu's wake showed up to say goodbye. Several promised to look after Chu-chu's grave, but Maddie already knew that Kevin would watch out for Chu-chu. Maddie kept an eye on House and was happy to see that he had two beers the entire night. When the night was over and all the goodbye hugs had been doled out, House and Maddie made their way back to the hotel. They made love and then took a shower together. Maddie was getting used to having House in her bed as well as having him around. She was even getting used to him leaving the bathroom door open when he peed, brushing his teeth with her toothbrush and eating food off her plate.

He was picking a melon off of her breakfast plate the next morning, "You're like having a toddler around. Except you can screw really well."He wiggled his eyebrows and kept chewing. "You take the first leg of the trip. I'll drive later when your leg tires."

"Oooo, you're going to let me drive your chariot?" he got in, started the car and drove several hours.

At lunch they switched and Maddie started to drive. After going through their top ten lists of movies, artists, books and songs, Maddie decided to broach the subject of his leaving. "When we get to Philly, I think you can go back to Princeton. You seem like you have your common sense back. I'm sure you've had enough of me. I'll keep you up to date on the excavation and the legal aspects of the dig."

"I have to get your furniture out of storage and drive it to your new apartment."

"You didn't sell the furniture from the apartment?"

"No, I put it in storage. I didn't have time to deal with it. Now I can just deliver it to your doorstep."

"I need an apartment first."

"Well, I can help with that. I know a little bit about Philly."

"I think it's time for you to get back to your life. It's time you went home, had a life. Be happy."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. You said I was boring. And you were right. All my life I've played it safe. The only time I didn't play it safe, the best thing in my life happened, I had Chu-chu. I intend to take risks, risks I've been afraid to take all my life. I want to have adventures, find someone who can love me, love the baby. I want to make memories that will fill up scrapbooks and photo albums. I can't do that with you hanging around, can I?"

"Why not?"

"You don't want to live, you want to wallow. You want to sit and lick your wounds."

"I have better things to lick."

"Yeah, well that's been my biggest mistake. I shouldn't have given into my sexual desires, it wasn't fair to you."

"Oh, give me a break. I'm a big boy."

"You kept me around for more than the sex."

"I kept you around because of our daughter. That's it. I took you in to get you healthy, but I'm not some patron saint of lost causes or crude jerks. At some point, I have to have a life."

"You have a life. And it happens to include great sex with me." his lips curled up mischievously.

"Well, I'll just have to find great sex somewhere else." My hands were darting in the air to emphasize my point.

He raised one lone eyebrow, "How long did it take for you to find great sex? Thirty-eight years?"

"No, I met you ten years ago, it took twenty-eight years to find good sex."

"You'll be bone dry and shriveled up when you find it again. It'll take a gallon of KY Jelly to just get inside. I've managed to knock you up twice, I'm good at it. Why not take advantage of our chemistry?"

"You mean build a meaningful relationship on our great sex?" she asked.

"Or build more meaningful sex on our great relationship."

She was agitated. Her voice went high and she started flailing her right arm, "This," Maddie pointed to the space between them, "is not a relationship."

"It sure is. What do you call it when you share a bed, have a kid, have another kid, take showers together, you pee while I shave, I pee while you brush your teeth, I belch and you chastize me and we share entrees? Now that's a relationship."

"That's a fraternity...except for the kid thing." Maddie turned back to the road and gestured between them, "Greg, I don't know what we're doing. You send out signals and then you scramble them. I'm an old fashion receiver, I don't have a decryption ring. If you want me to understand what you want, you're going to have to speak English and make old fashion moves."

He snorted and stared at Maddie. He shook his head and in a smug voice said, "When I know what I want, I'll let you know."

_I'm glad that he's playing coy. It means I don't have to stop and think of how I really feel about him. I've never been in an adult relationship with a man that's lasted for more than six months. And that was just casual dating and casual sex. What do I know about men? I've never moved in with a guy. In fact, I've never spent more than a couple of consecutive nights with one in my life. I just realized, I've spent more nights with House than I have with any man in my adult life. Between my crappy relationship with my father, my never ending school days, my field work in a place that had few eligible men (and even less that I'd be interested in), and Chu-chu, men were low on my list of priorities. I've never been in love with a man, I'm not sure I would know what it would feel like if it hit._

"You do that." she said.

His smugness turned to contemplation as they drove down the road. By the time they got to the motel that night, House's leg was giving him problems. Maddie went across the street and bought us some Kentucky Fried Chicken. When she got back he was laying on the bed in his shorts watching some porno on the HBO channel. His eyes followed as she opened up the utensils and handed him his boxed dinner and root beer float. He patted the bed next to him and they sat down to eat.

Maddie watched a woman do things on television with her body that she didn't know physiologically could be done. "Greg, can that really be done?"

He continued to eat and then he turned and looked at her chuckling, "You have to be a gymnast, but it can be done. Perhaps I could demonstrate?"

She kept watching and wondering what was going through his head during all of the humping and moaning. "Does this do something for you?"

"Doesn't it do something for you?"

"Yeah, I guess. But I didn't turn the station on...you did."

**CHAPTER 33**

**SWEET, SWEET GOODBYES**

He took several packets of honey from his Kentucky Fried Chicken biscuit box and placed them on the pillow next to me and then he kissed me. He tasted like fried chicken. He unbuttoned my blouse and then took the honey and smeared it on my chest down to the edge of my bra. He started licking it off of me, unsnapping my bra in the back and bringing his hand over my breast. I took my arms out of my sleeves and the bra. He poured more of the honey on to my breasts and licked it slowly, glancing up from time to time to look into my eyes. Then he kissed me with his tongue. He tasted sweet. I reached down and felt him, erect and firm. I began running my hand loosely over him up and down as he licked me. He rubbed my belly, pulled down his shorts and opened my legs. He covered me slowly with his body and continued to give me his honey kisses as he entered me and started to slide in and out. My body craved him, it craved his tongue, his fingers, his thighs, his arms, I craved all of him. When he came, he grunted softly into my neck, I held him in me with my legs around his waist. He didn't try to pull back or out of me. He let me keep him, all of him, locked inside of my embrace.

I kept him like that for five, maybe ten, minutes and he finally said to me, "Are we going to die like this or do you not want your turn?"

I unlatched my grip and he slipped out of me, replacing his member with his fingers. He continued to lick the last of the honey off my chest and then kiss me over and over while he used his fingers to make me respond. I was ready for his touch and so it took very little for me to start feeling everything flush with warmth and pleasure. "Greg, I'm coming." I whispered it in his ears as I pushed back into the bed with the pleasure and contractions gripping me.

He whispered back in my ear as he picked up the pace, "Good. Does this feel good?"

"My God, yes, it feels too good." He continued faster and faster as my contractions increased. I finally cried out, "You have to stop, I can't take anymore." I crossed my legs and he chuckled pulling his hand out and kissing me again. "You taste delicious," he said.

"God, You're right. I am going to miss this." I laid back and held him in my arms. He put his head on my chest.

"Oh, I won't be far away, I can service you on the weekends."

"Hopefully, you won't have to. I'm thinking that Philly has a few more men than Jordan. I just might be able to find someone."

"Doubtful."

I was insulted, "What do you mean, doubtful?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Who is going to want to start a relationship with a Paleontologist with a brand new baby? A baby is a big red flag. All you need is a cat and a subscription to New Scientist magazine and you score the boring trifecta."

"You'd date a woman with a baby, right?"

"Wrong."

I closed my eyes and shook my head, "Look who I'm asking...screw you."

"Give me a few minutes and I can oblige."

I pushed his head off of me. He chuckled and then lifted up to kiss me on the lips. I kissed back, a horrible mistake, but it just seemed natural. I was upset with myself for kissing him back without so much as a protest. He was so sure of me, my reactions. He kissed me again and then rolled over to watch television. The porn channel was still on. He changed it and I fell asleep.

We woke up and I felt sticky all over. I took a nice long shower and then we got on the road. We got to Philly at 2 am the following morning and booked into the Marriott. I asked for a bedroom with twin beds but House said, "I think we should splurge." He got out a credit card and said, "Give us a room with a jacuzzi for two nights and a bottle of champagne."

I turned to him and said, "I'm too tired tonight for champagne. I'm going to sleep when we get up to the room."

House smiled at the clerk, "Send it up tomorrow evening."

We got upstairs and there was a kingsize bed, jacuzzi and lovely view of Philadelphia. Greg put his cane down and took off his jacket. We both stripped down, House to his boxers, me to my panties. I put on a t-shirt and brushed my teeth. I looked at him, standing behind me being taking a pee and giggled. I guess this was a relationship of sorts. I couldn't define it, but it had its own rhythm.

I ran out of the bathroom and threw myself on the bed, crawled up and pulled the sheets and blanket over me. I heard House brushing his teeth and then he limped into the bedroom and got in bed. He had this huge bed to spread out in and yet he crawled over to my side and held me. I just wanted to sleep and he just wanted to...well, I'm not sure what he wanted. He didn't have an erection, he just seemed to want to be next to me. His head was resting on my pillow.

"You know, we could have just saved the money and gotten the room with twin beds and have you share mine. We have a kingsize bed...can't you maybe take advantage of it?"

"Mmmmm...you're warm." Instead of moving over, he moved closer.

I laughed, "You are a pain in the ss."

There was nothing, just a soft snoring coming from him. He was already asleep. I turned off the light and laid back, feeling his breath on my neck and falling asleep to the rhythm of his breathing and his hand on my tummy.

I could sense the sunlight through my eyelids and the back of his body pressed up against my side. I opened my eyes and turned my head, he was still sleeping. I got up and went over to the window, there were rain clouds in the sky and the sounds of a city in the middle of its busy day. I turned around and he was sitting up on his elbow following me with his eyes.

"Being pregnant suits you. Were you like this with the Caboose?"

I smiled at the nickname, "Yeah. My pregnancies seem to be uneventful. Knock on wood."

"Come back to bed." He lifted the sheets up. I sighed and shook my head. I wanted to explore the city, but I knew that this relationship was going to come to an end soon and I wanted to savor it as much as I could. I glanced out the window and then back at him inviting me to bed. I'm a big sucker, I got back in bed.

He pulled me in and wrapped me up in his arms. I looked at the hair on his chest and rubbed it. He kissed me on the crook of my neck. I let my hand follow the curves and dips of his body as I kissed him on the mouth. I knew we were going to make love, we now had our own language, shorthand, and I knew we would hold each other and then start our dance. This was scaring me, it felt so familiar.

"Let's take a jacuzzi before we make love." he said.

"Okay."

We started the jacuzzi. We put some oils in the warm water and let the smell bubble up and circle around us. We stood, naked, just holding each other and stroking our bodies. He smiled down at me like he had known me forever. We kissed again and then he crawled into the jacuzzi. I joined him and we laid back, letting the jets hit our muscles and melting us together.

We made love and then he took me to the Franklin Institute of Technology where we explored for several hours before going for a coffee. We walked by the Academy of Natural Sciences where I was to start in just a week. It was a granite building with pillars and impressive stairs leading up to it.

"Do you want to go in?"

I shook my head and squeezed his hand, "No, not yet. Let's go see Independence Hall and have dinner."

We took a cab to the historical center and saw the Liberty Bell before we went inside Independence Hall. It used to be that the Bell was at the bottom of the stairs inside the Hall, but it had been moved twice to its own center. Between House and me, we knew enough history about the Constitution and Revolution that we could have given our own tour.

After going through the Hall, we went to dinner at Morrimoto's and had Japanese food. House spoke some Japanese to me while feeding me food with his chopsticks.

"Do you really know how to speak Japanese or just how to ask for sex in Japanese?" I asked. He rattled off a string of Japanese to the waitress who answered back, bowing and smiling. The waitress went away and came back with some Saki. House spoke again in Japanese, there was more bowing and smiling. "Okay. I get it. How many languages do you speak?"

"Five well. But I can get to a cat house or a bar in several languages."

"How impressive."

"You handle chopsticks pretty well," he said.

"I spent some time in Japan too. But I don't speak the language." I ate some Yakitori while he slurped his noodles (which is polite in Japanese society.) We continued to compare our notes on Japan as he finished up his meal and he drank the small pitcher of the saki.

When we got back to the room and were laying in bed watching a movie, I stroked his chest and said as kindly as I could, "You need to go home tomorrow. I need to wean myself off of you."

He turned over and looked at me with his forhead wrinkled and eyes squinted. I looked at his nose, which had obviously been broken at some point and the little freckle on the left side of his forehead. I knew almost every blemish, every hair, every feature on his body. When he focused his blue eyes on me, I knew he was upset.

"Why are you so anxious to get rid of me?"

"Why do you want to stay?"

He slapped my behind as if sex were the reason.

"If sex is the reason, then you really do need to go and you need to go tomorrow."

"You didn't answer my question, why do you want me to go?"

"Because I don't know what else to do with you. I don't know what this is or whether I even want it. It's just become so easy, I don't have to try to be with you, I just am. And I don't even know whether I like you."

"What does your brain say?"

"You mean my heart?"

"Whatever organ you think holds the answer."

"I know you make good babies." I smiled sadly, "Why do you care?"

"I don't. I was just curious."

My shoulders dropped and I said, "Well, it's settled, you'll be going tomorrow."

He snorted and then nodded while giving me a small false smile. We finished the movie and then went to sleep. I was draped over him like a prison guard keeping watch on a ruly prisoner. When we woke up, instead of removing my arms and legs, he pulled me closer.

I reached up and kissed his neck and then pulled his face to kiss his lips. He kissed me sweetly, gently and then pulled away from me. He got up and went into the bathroom. Half an hour later he came out and dressed, picked up the phone and dialed the concierge. I was disappointed, I thought we would make love one last time.

"Could you tell me the time of the next train to Princeton?" he paused with a pencil and paper in his hand. "Yes, thank you."

He hung up and turned to me, "I have to catch the R7 from 30th street at 11:09 am." He looked at his watch. "I better get going. They're ordering a cab for me."

"I'll go down with you, I can drive you to the station." I glanced up at his face, hoping he would agree to prolong the goodbye. "I need to check out and find a long-stay hotel."

"It's okay, I've already ordered the cab."

"I need to brush my teeth and put on some clean underwear and then I'll be right out. It won't take me but five minutes and then we can check out." I rushed into the bathroom, ran a washcloth over my body, brushed my teeth, put on clean clothes and stepped out into the bedroom. "Okay, I'm ready to..."

He was gone.

I sat on the bed and felt pangs of regret go through me. I got up and grabbed my bags and went downstairs. He had already checked out and was on his way to the train station. I checked out a phone book and looked for a long-stay hotel so that I could have a week to look for an apartment and not pay through the nose. I found one and checked in early that afternoon. It had a kitchenette so I bought some groceries and made myself a late lunch. I laid down, me and the baby, and took a long nap.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 34**

**CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE**

Wilson picked up House at the train station. He threw the two bags in the back seat and got in on the driver's side. He was pleased to see that House was sober when he got off the train. They didn't say anything to each other right away.

"You go to Montana for a couple of weeks and you find a T. Rex?"

House looked over at him, "How did you hear?"

"It was in the newspaper and on television. According to the science guy on CNN they start excavation next week. How did you find it?"

"I didn't, Maddie did."

"Then why are you taking credit?"

"I didn't want to, but she says if I hadn't been along she wouldn't have taken the path we did. You know, the leg. I also found a T.Rex tooth which made her stop and look around, but she found the bulk of the T.Rex. I'm going to put most of my share in a trust fund for the baby."

"_Baby?_ Oh my God, you got her pregnant?"

"It seems that I'm good at it." he grinned

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. What am I suppose to do?"

"Gee, I don't know. Be a father?"

"She told me there would be no obligations."

"You guys talked about it? About the pregnancy?"

"No, not really."

"She's pregnant with your child and you didn't talk to her about it?"

"What is it about 'no obligations' that you don't understand?"

"You're going to push that head of yours so far in the sand that you're going to suffocate." He shook his head and scowled. "Well did you two get along?"

"We got along. Each night we got along and along and aglong. I'm sore."

Wilson snickered and shook his head. He helped House into his apartment with his luggage. "You still have another week off, why don't you go see your folks?"

"You want a relapse? I don't need another week, I'm ready to come back."

"Well, you need to talk to Cuddy first. I don't know if she'll let you."

Maddie spent the next week looking for an apartment in downtown Philly. She found one within biking range of the Academy. It was a brick two bedroom apartment, nice kitchen and dining area. It also had a great laundry area. The bedrooms and one bathroom was upstairs. There was a half bath downstairs just off the living room.

She had no furniture, so she continued to stay in the hotel. When her cell phone rang and said PPTH, she hoped it was Jim, "Hello?"

"Just called to see if you need to be diddled."

Maddie laughed, "You made it home okay?"

"I did. Did you find a place?"

"Yes, I did, a nice two bedroom apartment. It's close enough that I can bike to work."

"Well, give me your address and I'll have the furniture brought down to you."

"That's really your furniture. I can't take it."

"What am I going to do with an apartment full of furniture? Give me your address."

She smiled, "You just want my address so you can be a nuisance."

"I need to know where to find you just in case you need servicing."

"342 21st Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103."

House took it down and promised, "I'll have it brought up on Friday. I'll have them call you when they get into the city."

"Thanks Greg." Maddie was about to hang up.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're pregnant...or have you forgotten?"

She chuckled, "You just saw me three days ago. Nothing much has changed."

"Damn and I was so hoping that if I gave you time you'd turn into Angelina Jolie."

"Yeah and you George Clooney. Looks like the spells didn't take. Are you back at work?"

"Cuddy let me come back and, since I haven't shown up smelling like Maker's Mark the last couple of days, she didn't come out of her cage to smell me this morning. By the way, she might have a job for you."

I was stunned, "Me?"

"Yeah, as my keeper."

I started laughing. "You mean she fired Wilson?"

"I think it was more like he resigned."

"I doubt that, he's just on vacation. A well deserved vacation."

"You know he found a girlfriend while I was gone?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Of Wilson? No, his women always have a tragic flaw– they date him."

"Ooooo...you've got your cruel streak back."

"I have to run, I'll see you soon."

"Soon?" But he didn't hear the question in my voice, he had hung up. _What does he mean by soon...I need a break from him. I need my life back. _

On Friday I received a phone call from a gruff sounding guy, "Lady, I've got a truck load of stuff for you. We're half ' hour outside Philly, you ready for us?"

"Yep, you can bring it."

Forty-five minutes later there were two guys who looked like they could be cast members of the Sopranos get out of the truck. The older one walked up to the door as I opened it.

"Mrs. House?"

"Uh, Dr. Doyle, but I'm the closest thing to Mrs. House that you'll find at this address."

"Well Dr. House told us to deliver it to Mrs. House at this address."

"He did? Well then, I'm Mrs. House because this is his baby." I smiled and rubbed my belly.

"Congrats. Okay then, we'll unload."

It took an hour but they brought in all the furniture and even set up the bed for me. "You'll need to get someone out to get your tv going. These LCD s need a lot of hook-ups. I need your signature here saying we delivered your stuff."

I signed it, "Mrs. Maddie House." He looked down, nodded and handed me a copy.

I dug through some of the boxes and found the linens, made the beds and put the kitchen things away. It took me most of the day but I enjoyed it. I even hooked up my own LCD, but knew that I had to get the cable guy in if I wanted HD. So I called and made the arrangements for them to come out and hook an HD box.

It seemed strange to be a pregnant woman in a city where I knew no one. I felt incredibly lonely for the first time since House left. I wondered if I would feel the same way after the baby arrived?

_The baby. I really hadn't thought of the baby in awhile. I need to put out some photos of Chu-chu. She'd be so excited about the baby. If she were here, I'd be excited too. We would both enjoy the baby together. She would have been a great sister, very protective._

I rummaged through my luggage and found the framed photo of her and I in our cowboy hats out on a dig, looking dirty and happy. It was a great shot of mother and daughter who loved each other. I also pulled out the one of House and her at the piano, it was a great juxtaposition to the one of us. It showed how her in a completely different setting, exercising her musical ability. I was about to put it down when I saw something in House's face that I hadn't noticed before. I had always concentrated on Chu-chu's delicious happiness sitting at the piano with her Dad. I had missed the sheer unadulterated happiness in House's face. It was a photo of two people nakedly happy. It hurt to see it. I realized then just what House had lost and why he felt the need to cling to me.

_He wanted that feeling back. But I can't give it back to him, at least not until I find a way to get it back myself._

I so wanted a drink, a drink to keep me from spiraling into thoughts about Chu-chu, but I couldn't drink because of the baby. So the thoughts of Chu-chu came like locusts, covering and devouring me. I felt utterly hopeless. The new job, the new apartment, the new city, the new baby...none of it made me feel like living. I laid down on my bed and did nothing, felt nothing, wanted nothing. I cried but it was silent. The only sign that I was crying were the tears that rippled across my cheeks to the sheets. How could I live without Chu-chu? How could I even think I could?

I don't know if I ate that day or if I got up to pee or if I did anything but stare into oblivion. The day was lost to me, I think it was my lowest ebb. If I hadn't had an innocent baby inside of me, I probably would have visited some high building and taken a jump. In the morning I felt slightly better. I got myself up and went for a walk in my new neighborhood. It was now early September and I was definitely looking very pregnant. I walked to the grocery store and picked up a couple of bags of groceries and sundries and started back home. I looked up as I turned the corner to see a grumpy looking man sitting on my doorstep with his chin balanced on the head of his cane. Crazy as it sounds, I was happy to see him.

"I knew I couldn't get rid of you." I shook my head. He started to stand up as I walked up the three steps to the stoop. He bent down to grab his motorcycle helmet.

"I was in the neighborhood."

"On a motorcycle?" I asked as I opened the door.

"Surprisingly, motorcycles go everywhere cars do. Want a spin on it?" He was looking around the apartment.

"I don't have a helmet."

"You can wear mine and then we could stop and buy you one." he went over to the table and sat down.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go for lunch." He checked me out from head to toe, "You look like sh!t. I leave you for a few days and you fall apart. What's up?"

I exhaled loudly and sat down with him, "Chu-chu. I had a bad day yesterday."

I never expected what he did next, he put his hand over mine and held it quietly as if we were both sitting there mourning her together. He smiled kindly at me and then patted my hand. "Food? Let's go."

We drove to a local K-Mart and, after trying on all shades and varieties of helmets, he chose one and bought it for me. It had strange lightening bolts and blazes on the sides, making me look like some x-treme skateboarder. We went through Philadelphia on his bike, me holding onto him, my head upright, my pregnant belly pushing into the small of his back and me giggling as he took turns and went fast. We found a café that had tables outside and took a seat. I saw a woman give House the once over and then nod to her friend to take a look. He was looking particularly handsome today and I was a little miffed that they were checking him out. But then, House was smiling back at them in that sexy little grin he can give. He looked at me and I just raised one eyebrow and shook my head.

"What? he asked innocently.

"You're with a pregnant woman. For all they know, I could be your pregnant wife, and you're flirting with them?"

"But you're not my pregnant wife. You're not even my pregnant girlfriend or you'd be ten years younger."

I chuckled. "You're right. I'm just jealous because no one flirts with pregnant women. I feel about as sexy as a hippo. I'd like to get this pregnancy over. What would happen if I had the baby now?" I smiled and rubbed my belly.

"Let's see, you're almost thirty weeks? You're still risking a lot if you pop now. Under 30 weeks you're much more likely to have persistent ductus arteriosus, intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, brain damage, infections, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity, apnea and bradycardia, anemia or low blood counts, bronchopulmonary dysplasia or chronic lung disease. In addition, premature babies, especially those under 30-32 weeks are at risk for having moderate medical problems, learning disabilities, problems with their hearing and vision, and cerebral palsy. Some will have more serious medical conditions, including blindness, deafness, severe cerebral palsy, and mental retardation.

"You _don't_ want to have your baby under 32 weeks if you can avoid it. After 32 weeks, the baby has much better chances of not having problems. It would be naive to think that the baby would be normal." He said this as if he were regaling her with baseball statistics.

"You're scaring me." I rubbed my belly in an unconscious signal to the baby to stay put.

"You had a normal pregnancy before, it's unlikely you'll have an abnormal one now." He searched for the waiter and then caught his eye. The waiter came over and took their order. He had a cajun chicken sandwich and I had the California Cobb salad. House kept glancing at the two women to his right and gave them flirtatious looks.

I got up and went to the bathroom and when I got back one of the women was sitting in my seat handing House a piece of paper. I felt hurt and like a big fat whale in the presence of this woman. She looked at me standing next to her, waiting for her to get out of my chair, and quickly rose to her feet to let me sit down. She looked at me and glanced back at House.

She narrowed her eyes and asked, "Your friend claims that you two are just friends and that's all. Is that true?"

I felt pangs all through my chest. House was looking at me with his eyebrows slightly raise as if this were a test and I was being graded. I looked him in the eye, "No, there's nothing between us. We are just friends."

He didn't flinch. He didn't break eye contact with me. Then he quickly looked at the woman, "I told you, we're just friends. She doesn't even know if she likes me.'

"That's true, sometimes I absolutely hate him. Greg, I'll be out by the motorcycle. Here is my contribution to the meal." I put $20 on the table.

"You don't have to..."

"Of course my _dear friend_, I couldn't let you pay for it."

I turned and left. I leaned back on the wrought iron rail as I waited for him. I felt myself sinking into my hole again. I tried hard to keep my spirits from nosediving, reminding myself that he was nothing to me but the father of my children and an entertaining companion. Still there is nothing like having the man you are with make a successful pass at another woman when you, yourself, are alone in the world and heavily pregnant.

I saw a cab across the street and I ran over to it, jumped in the back and took off. I got back to my apartment and threw myself down on the sofa. Around 9:00 pm I got up and went to bed early so that I would be ready for my first day at my new job.

The next morning I woke up and took a shower, dressed in my pregnancy pant suit. I got on my bicycle and with my new helmet, I pedaled into work. I walked up to the side door where I was told to report and a security guard took me into the administration office. I was told that my new boss, Simon Hodgson, was not in yet, so I spent the next hour with the manager of human resources going over my employment contract, my benefits, filling out medical forms and arranging my taxes and 401K. At ten am, I was called into Mr. Hodgson's office.

The office had windows that looked out on the park. He had a beautiful beechwood desk and credenza. He wasn't what I expected. Jack Benson had been my boss for so long that I had become used to a funny, beer-bellied boss. Here sat the curator of the Academy and he must have been in his mid-forties and looked like Cary Grant in Dolce and Gabana. He looked at my pregnant belly and said nothing about it.

"Welcome to the Academy Dr. Doyle, I'm Simon Hodgson. Please call me Simon. Congratulations on your T.Rex. You must be very pleased. Will you be going back for the excavation?" he stood and shook my hand. He had a pleasant handshake and a distinctive British accent.

"From time to time."

"I understand you've filled out the paperwork, now we need to show you your office and introduce you to your staff. You have two associates and two interns and one department secretary." He motioned for me to walk with him. We started down the corridor.

"We're hoping that maybe you'll look favorably on the Academy when your T.Rex is excavated. I understand you have the final say where it goes?"

"Me and Dr. House."

"Who is Dr. House?"

"A doctor from Princeton. We were hiking in Hell Creek when we found the T. Rex. I wouldn't get too excited just yet, we don't know the percentage of T. Rex that we're going to uncover."

"True, but we've been wanting one for a long time." he smiled just like Cary Grant and I felt his charm. He had a way of making you feel comfortable, in a formal sort of way.

When we got to my office it was somewhat bare. It had a view of the Franklin Institute of Science and Technology, which was fine with me. After I was shown my office, he took me downstairs to my department and I met my staff, who were all sitting together in one area drinking coffee and eating donuts.

"This is Dr. Robert Coffin and Dr. Steven Wingfield. Your intern is Diana Khoury, from Harvard and your secretary is Josh Hanson."

I was shaking everyone's hands and smiling as they all welcomed me on board. In front of me were numerous tables with fossils, bones, microscopes, a Chemiluminescence Documentation System, various scales, Bunsen burners and various lab equipment. I was excited and anxious all at the same time. After the introductions, Simon left me. I spent the rest of the day discovering what projects my staff was working on and realizing that we needed grants. Grants were my job to obtain.

I liked my staff, they seemed amiable enough. Bob had actually worked under Jack a few years before I went to work for him. So we had some great stories between us. My spirits lifted considerably and I felt contented and tired. When I got home late that afternoon, I looked at Chu-chu's photos as I undressed and told her about my day. I looked at House and wondered if he had scored with the brunette at the restaurant.

Over the next two weeks, I spent my days getting my office put together, searching for grants and working on a Parasaurolophus. I was working late and going to bed almost as soon as I got home. I was enjoying it immensely and didn't have time to think of how lonely it was at home.

I hadn't thought about the baby until the heartburn hit me. It brought back memories of my pregnancy with Chu-chu. It was then I realized that I didn't have an OB/GYN doctor and needed one fast or I wasn't going to be sleeping. I was rummaging through my medical directory when Simon came into my office.

"Maddie, I just thought I would drop in and see how you are doing?"

"Heartburn."

"Heartburn?"

"That's how I'm doing...I've got to find a doctor to treat this heartburn."

"Oh, I meant how you were doing here?"

I slapped my forehead, "Oh you must think I'm stupid. I'm sorry Simon, it's just that I realized that I don't have a obstetrician here in Philly and I probably need one."

"I suspect that you do need one. It would seem from your appearance that you are quite pregnant."

"Does your wife have an obstetrician?"

"I don't have a wife."

"Oh!" I must have looked shocked because he back tracked.

"I don't have a wife, I have an ex-wife and no obstetrician in Philadelphia."

I giggled. "In answer to your question, Simon, I'm doing well and enjoying myself. Any comments or criticisms?"

"No, everyone seems to be impressed with you. They just wonder where your cowboy boots are."

"I've gone through most of my pregnant lady wardrobe, I'll be whippin' out my Montana stuff soon."

"Would you like to go for a quick bite to eat after work tonight?"

"Oh, I have to get to bed early or I don't get up for work in time."

"Maddie, tomorrow's Saturday, you have the day off."

"Oh my God!!! Is today Friday?" I was flabbergasted, "Well, if today is Friday, then I guess I can eat a quick bite!"

He laughed that British way, "Great, you can follow me to the restaurant."

"On my bike?"

"Your bike?"

"I bike to work."

"Oh, well then, you bike home and I'll pick you up." he smiled.

"That's great. Okay."

"It would be better if you gave me your address?" He tilted his head at me.

"I think you have a point there."

I gave him my address and then found the Obstetrician closest to my apartment. I made an appointment for Monday and then took off a little early so I could stop by the supermarket and buy some antacids. I got home and cleaned up a little, put on a jumper and blouse. I was pretty sure my boss was taking me to dinner to size me up. Find out if I was up to the task of leading a nationally recognized Paleontology department and it made me a little nervous. Around 6 pm he stopped by and came in for a minute.

He saw the photo of Chu-chu and I at the dig and asked me about it. "This looks like Hell Creek in Montana. Who's the little girl?"

"It is Hell Creek and the little girl was my daughter."

"Was?" he asked softly.

"She died six months ago of Leukemia."

He looked down and his voice was kind and sad, "I'm sorry," He took a deep breath and swallowed, "I know how you feel. I had a daughter too, she died when she was six months old. SIDS."

I was surprised and sad, "I am so sorry. It must have been horrible for you and your wife."

"Yes, it happened six years ago. My ex never got over it and blamed me because I was home when it happened and she wasn't. We divorced a year later."

"How sad."

"It's none of my business, but do you have a husband or boyfriend to help you through this?"

"No. I've never had a husband and I have no boyfriend."

"But you're pregnant?" he said it carefully, trying not to offend me.

"You're going to think I'm terrible, but the father of my daughter and I conceived this child as a possible core blood donor for our daughter. She caught an infection and died before I even knew I was pregnant."

"I don't think that's horrible. If I could have done something, anything, to save my daughter, I would have done it too." He nodded towards the door and we started to leave, "So what does he think of the new baby?"

We walked to his car and as I got in I said, "He doesn't want any obligations. I had promised that if he would get me pregnant, I wouldn't ask anything of him. I intend to honor that."

"He can turn a blind eye to his child?"

I laughed abruptly, "Oh yeah. This guy isn't your typical "save the world" doctor."

"How do you feel about the father?"

"Grateful. My daughter was the product of a very short relationship. He didn't know about my daughter until I went looking for him to see if he could be a bone marrow donor. He not only agreed, against his own desires, to get me pregnant again, but he paid for my daughter's funeral. He can be an ss, but when it counted, he came through for us."

Simon laughed, "You're grateful because he had sex with you?"

"He didn't want another child, but he fell in love with my daughter, Chu-chu so he agreed."

"I see." He nodded and smiled at me.

We spent the evening eating and talking about our respective careers. Simon was an Archeologist from Oxford and had been with the Academy for five years. He had turned the Academy around from being in the red to just now making a profit. His background was more in Ancient civilizations and little to do with Paleontology. We joked back and forth about the two branches and by the time the evening was over, we were, at the least, forming a good friendship.

When he took me home I offered him some coffee and he accepted. As I made the coffee, he saw the photo of Chu-chu and House. He picked it up and looked at it closely.

"Is this a photo of your daughter and her father?"

"Yes, it is."

"They both look very happy together, like they're having fun playing piano."

"They were, they did." I brought the coffee out to him.

"He looks familiar. Wait, isn't he the man that discovered the T.Rex with you? I saw the photo of you two standing by the find. Is this Dr. House of Princeton?"

"Yes."

"And, he's the father of your children?"

"I'm afraid so."

My voice must have sounded strange to him because he immediately asked me, "Are you two close?"

"I don't really know. He's a hard guy to understand or get to know. Just when I think we're on good terms and things are going well, he does something cruel or strange. It's as if he deliberately goes out of his way to sabotage our relationship."

"That's odd."

"Let's not talk about Greg House, let's talk about Simon Hodgson."

And with that we sat and talked for an hour before Simon eventually got up to leave. "I enjoyed the evening Maddie, perhaps we can do this again sometime?"

After he left, I wasn't sure what had just happened. Had we been out as co-workers or had I just had a semi-date? I was confused...so I went to bed.

I was surprised when he asked me to dinner the following Friday and the Friday after that. We seemed to have a standing "date." Simon was a fairly formal person with everyone at work except me. When we were out together we'd cut up and laugh. He loved to joke and play practical jokes on me.

One day he brought in a gorgeous chest and was obviously over the moon about its contents. "Maddie, we just received this from the Karoo Basin in South Africa. They believe it's a new species of dinosaur."

I was excited, I took the bones out and unwrapped them on the stainless steel table in our lab. The other paleontologists all began to oooh and ahhh.

"My God, I've never seen anything like it." Bob said.

Steve agreed, "It's incredible. And they let us be the first to identify it?"

Simon nodded, "I'm close friends with the couple that found them."

I was completely baffled. The felt wrapped bones, when laid out, were nothing more than fossilized chicken bones. I didn't know what to say. Simon seemed so excited about the find. I couldn't understand the guys at all._ Can't they see they're just chicken bones?_

"Uh, Simon?" I looked at him and I know that I must have looked incredibly sad and disappointed. I put a hand on his shoulders and said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but these are nothing but chicken bones."

Simon looked like he was going to have apoplexy. "Surely, you're joking, the museum just paid $500,000 for these."

My jaw dropped and my eyebrows went up in surprise, "Oh my God, Simon, you should have let me see them first."

"But Maddie, Bob and Steve saw one of the bones and told us it was a new species."

I couldn't believe that Bob and Steve had been so wrong! They were usually great at their job, but they had gotten this one really wrong. I was sweating and a little light headed. How was I going to save their jobs? And Simon would surely be let go too.

I turned white, "I need to sit down."

They started howling. Simon sat me down, "Oh Maddie, we were just taking the Micky out of you. We didn't buy these chicken bones...we just wanted to play a joke on you."

By now the entire staff was howling and even I started laughing. I started breathing easier and gladly drank the glass of water that Bob retrieved for me.

"I'm glad this is a joke, I was wondering how I was going to be able to save Bob and Steve's jobs. I couldn't believe they could be so stupid!"

It was then I knew that I was in the midst of master pranksters and I had to be on my guard. I later learned that it had all been Simon's doing and as formal as he was most of the time, he was always up for a good practical joke.

Six weeks in a row we had our Friday night dinner. Simon held my hand when we walked and he would put an arm around me on occasion. But he never tried to kiss me or have sex with me. At one point he said to me, "I know your situation is unusual and I'm not asking for anything right now. But, when you do get settled and the baby is born, I'd like to ask you out properly."

"Even though I have a baby on the way?" I was obviously shocked.

"Children don't frighten me, especially not babies."

I was shocked. This was a very eligible man who was funny, complex, intelligent and attractive and he was interested in me! I was excited, nervous and unsure all at the same time.

**CHAPTER 35**

**THERE COMES A TIME**

House hadn't heard from Maddie and he hadn't bothered to call her. They hadn't communicated since she ran out on him at the restaurant. It infuriated him that she had run off without telling him why. Was she upset over the harmless flirting? It wasn't his fault that women flirted with him. Besides, she always liked to make a point of telling everyone that they were just friends, that there was nothing more between them. In fact, he got tired of hearing it over and over. Like she was trying to convince herself.

_If the flirting had bothered her, why not tell me? Why not say so and then I would have...what would I have done? Sorted out my feelings towards her? Now there's a chore. She's impossible to read sometimes. The only time her emotions come through is when they have something to do with Chu-chu. Most of the time she's steady, hard to rile. If the flirting had bothered her, I would have stopped, she just needed to let me know. She's a tease. One minute pretending she has no feelings and then the next getting upset when I try to pick up a girl. To hell with it. I'm going to find an academically challenged 22 year old and plow her cellulite-free body until we're both raw._

House had been having this conversation with himself almost every day for the last six weeks. The sad thing was that the brunette had turned out to be easy, but not very interesting, especially in the bedroom. The fling was over two weeks later.

He was taking a nap in his office when the phone rang. "Greg House." He answered with boredom dripping from his voice.

"Hey darlin'" the female voice purred.

"Jade? What's up? Any problems with the excavation?" House asked.

"Oh no, didn't Maddie tell you? We're close to the skull. When she was up here two weeks ago we showed her the bones we had already excavated. Several other dinosaurs were found in close proximity and, to top it off, we found a T. Rex egg too. This is going to be a great find. But I didn't call about the T. Rex, I called about Maddie."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I talked to her and she seemed really out of it and I'm worried. I could hear the baby screamin' its head off in the background and she just seemed like she didn't even hear him. Is she okay?"

"_Baby? She had the baby?"_

"Christ Greg, didn't you know? She had the baby four days ago. They sent her home within forty-eight hours. I was gonna come down but we're at a crucial part in the excavation of the skull." Jade's voice turned frustrated, "I thought you were there to help her? You mean, she did this all by herself? She's all on her own?"

"Jade, I have to go." House said quickly.

"Promise you'll call me and let me know if I should come down."

"Yeah. Thanks. Bye."

House hung up and grabbed his jacket and helmet. He hobbled quickly to the adjacent office and told Chase he would be gone for the day. Chase asked where he was going and House simply replied, "Philly."

House was furious. _She had the baby without telling me, without me being there? Damn her. What gives her the right? _The weather was wet and cold as he drove along the expressway. He got to Philly an hour later and pulled up in front of her apartment. There were newspapers outside on the front stoop. He knocked on the door. He could hear the baby wailing.

A man popped his head out from next door. "Hey buddy, can you get her to shut that kid up? It's been screaming all night and day."

"Did you ever think to go over and find out if they're okay?"

"I figure if the baby's that loud, he's got to be healthy."

"Yeah, but maybe she isn't, you moron." House was so aggravated that if the guy had been within reach he would have punched him just to get some of the frustration out of his body. House couldn't get a response so he checked around for a key. He couldn't find one at first. But then he thought about the field tent's medication chest key. It was taped underneath the desk chair. He started to look underneath everything and found the key taped up underneath the mailbox.

He took the key and opened the door. The house was dark downstairs, the curtains were drawn and it was quiet. House made his way upstairs as fast as his bad leg could carry him. He walked into her bedroom and there was a bassinet with the baby laying in it screaming. Maddie was laying on the bed asleep, a small patch of blood on her gown near her vagina. House felt her head and she was hot. He called the paramedics. He looked at her discharge papers on the night stand and called her doctor. It took awhile but he was eventually put through.

House told her OB, "I can't come with her. I have to watch the baby. You'll need to meet her at the emergency room."

"Of course. I'm on my way now to the hospital. I'll call you later Dr. House."

The paramedics were instructed on where to take her. In the meantime House looked around. He was surprised by the lack of things for the baby. There was an opened gift box with two outfits, one for a three month old, the other for a six month old. There was a bag of used clothing sitting on the floor with several newborn outfits. House took the baby and looked around for diapers. There was a bag of diapers, probably sent home with her by the hospital. The baby was soaked.

He found a wash cloth and took off the gown and the wet diaper. It was a boy. House's heart skipped a beat and he chuckled. _A boy. For some reason I never expected a boy. _House began to clean the baby, who was still screaming, but not quite as loud. He changed his diaper and as he did he checked him out. House smiled to himself, the baby seemed very healthy. And he had long fingers for his little body. He called Wilson while he continued to change the baby.

"I need help."

"What, where are you? What's all that crying about?" Wilson stopped what he was doing.

"I'm in Philly at Maddie's. She had the baby and was sent home. She's developed a fever and was just taken by the paramedics to the hospital. I can't go see her because I have to take care of the baby. There's no food or baby supplies in the house. The only source of sustenance for this kid just went to the hospital and he obviously hasn't been fed in awhile. I need you to bring me some bottles and formula and get up here quick. I need baby supplies."

"Okay, give me her address and I'm on my way."

House gave Wilson the address. He continued to hold the baby and bounce him around while he cried. Sometimes he would just whimper and then he'd wail. House realized that he didn't know the baby's name. The phone rang and House balanced the baby on his shoulder while he made his way over to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Greg, it's Jade. I'm so glad you're there. How are they?"

"Maddie had an infection, I've sent her to the hospital. The baby is hungry and I have formula on the way. What's the baby's name?"

"He doesn't have one. I don't know what was going on with her Greg. I kept asking her about her baby plans when she was up here and she didn't seem to have any. It was like she didn't want to think about it."

House was looking through the hospital documents, "Oh, here it is. You're right, the birth certificate lists his name as 'Baby boy'. I guess I better register him. Do you have any idea why she's acting this way?"

"I think she's afraid it will be like Chu-chu all over again. Should I fly down there?"

"Wait and call me in a couple of days, I can tell you then."

"Okay, call if you need anything. Before I go, what does he look like?"

"He's three weeks early, but he was still 6 lbs. 6oz, 22 inches long. He's got darker hair than Chu-chu's baby pictures. He has blue eyes, but they're still dark and he's got long fingers."

"Sounds like your genes all over again. Wow, you have a son House. How strange, I can't imagine Maddie with a boy. Call me if you need anything. Take care, bye."

"Bye."

House was amused. If his own mother could see the baby she'd be shocked at how much he resembled House when he was born. He wondered if he could get his mom to come out and help. That might be the best plan, but he'd have to think about it. It would mean having to deal with his Dad. House went to the kitchen to see if there was any juice for the baby. He soaked a paper towel and let drops of the orange juice he found drip slowly into the baby's mouth, The baby tried to suck.

"Dude, you need a name. You're loud like your great grandfather, Tearlach MacPhearson. I think we'll call you Tearlach Rex. T. Rex. We'll call you Rex for short. Your Uncle Jim will be here soon. He's so touchy feely you might be able to get some milk out of him."

An hour later there was a knock on the door. House was relieved when he saw a haggard Wilson standing on the stoop. "I went up to Peds and they loaded me up. We have disposable bottles, nipples, liners, formula, diapers, wipes, a little gown and all kinds of little doodads and gadgets for babies."

"Just get a bottle made or Rex is going to pop a gasket." House said, bouncing the baby up and down.

Wilson went into the kitchen and started sterilizing the nipples. He took a liner out and poured the formula from the can into the liner. He screwed on the nipple and House grabbed the bottle.

"Aren't you suppose to warm the bottle?" Wilson asked.

"Nah, only if they won't take it cold." House took the baby, limped over to the couch and sat down. He nuzzled the baby's mouth with the nipple of the bottle and the baby latched on fiercely. He started sucking the formula and looking up at House. "He's four days old so he can't even focus yet. I wonder what he sees when he looks up at me."

"A jerk? He's a healthy looking baby. What's his name?"

"Tearlach Rex. His great grandfather was Tearlach. It's Scottish."

"And Rex? Is that a nod to Paleontology?"

House nodded.

"I get it. T. Rex. Cute, very clever. Tell me about Maddie."

He sat down and told Wilson everything he knew. Within minutes of his bottle, Rex fell asleep in his Daddy's arms. Wilson smiled over at House and the baby.

"House what's your plan?"

"I don't follow, _plan_?"

"Look at you. You're sitting there holding your sleeping son. Do you want to be a part of his life?"

"We keep having this conversation. I was told no obligations."

"Do you really consider loving that child an obligation? He's going to need a Dad."

"I didn't."

"Yes, you did. I know, he was abusive at times, but you've also told me numerous stories of things you two did together and how he taught you how to fish, ski, camp, hike. You choose to emphasize the abuse, and I understand that. But you also learned a lot from him. Just like your son will learn a lot from you."

"Yeah, like how to pop Vicodin, roll doobies, turn the channel on the television and piss in a coffee cup? If that's what he needs, then I'm the Dad for him."

"You can teach him music, medicine, history, art, movies...you can teach him a lot."

"Stop, I'm getting all teary eyed." He rolled his eyes, "I was told no obligations."

"Well, everybody lies." Wilson said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah. We need to go shopping, where's a laptop?" House laid the baby on the couch next to him as he got on the web and ordered baby furniture and clothes. He also ordered a month's worth of diapers."

Wilson made some more bottles and told House to make sure he bought a breast pump for Maddie, so she could make some bottles.

"I can watch the baby, why don't you go see Maddie?" Wilson said.

"I guess."

"Take her a change of clothes."

House grabbed some clothes and the documents he needed. He put them in a plastic bag and stuffed them in his nap sack and took off. He eventually arrived at the hospital and found Maddie. She was hooked up to an I.V. of saline and antibiotics.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said. She still looked pale and drawn. The bleeding had obviously stopped.

"Here's some clothes for you to change into when you come home."

"Thanks."

"Why didn't you call when the baby was born?"

"We hadn't talked in over a month so I thought it meant you didn't want anything to do with us. I told you, no obligations."

He looked at her very tired face, "What did you have?"

"MRSA."

House nodded and said, "You haven't asked how Rex is."

"Rex?"

"Your son. I filled in a form at the obstetric's desk to add his name to his birth certificate and I paid the fee to have a new one issued."

"You named my son?"

"Someone had to, his mother didn't care enough to give him one. It appears that you didn't buy him clothes, or diapers or furniture or anything a baby needs. What's going on?"

She looked away from him and pressed her lips tightly together.

"I'm talking to you. What's going on?"

"He's not healthy."

"What do you mean, he's not healthy? I talked to your obstetrician and she said he was healthy with a 10 on the APGAR score."

"They told me Chu-chu was healthy too. She got a 10 too. But she wasn't_ really_ healthy and she died. He looks healthy, but he isn't. You can't fall in love with him Greg, it will just hurt like it did before. You need to keep your guard up. He's not healthy."

"You're the one who isn't healthy. What the hell is your problem? Rex isn't going to get sick and die."

"You know that? How do you know that?" She asked it with a seriousness that scared House.

"You think he has some sort of genetic defect and he's going to die?"

She nodded somberly, "Can you test him?"

"I'll have them run the tests for leukemia markers and for the five most common genetic links to diseases in children. Will that help you?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I hold him and I hurt."

House sat down on the bed and looked into her eyes. There was something in her eyes, a fear that he had never noticed before. She really believed that her child was going to die.

"Maddie, when Chu-chu was sick, I never lied to you. I never gave you false hopes, did I?" She shook her head. "I promise you, I'll run some tests, but Rex is a very healthy boy and he needs you."

Tears ran down her face, "I know he needs me. But I don't know if I can do this again...love him and lose him. I don't know."

"You're not going to lose him you moron. He's healthy. He's going to end up burying you."

She chuckled at that. "I wish I could believe you."

"You're going to have to believe me, because he's not happy sucking on my tits. I think he keeps getting little hairs in his mouth."

When House got back to the apartment, Wilson had Rex in his arms and was rocking him back and forth. House looked at him, "You'll make a good wife someday."

"I'm just waiting for you. I've got to get back, I have a heavy load at work tomorrow."

"Yeah, well me and my homie here are gonna kick back and drink some brewskies and watch some WWF. Then we'll light up a few stogies and get naked with some babes from down the street. I was thinking Hooters for dinner or maybe it was him who was thinking Hooters for dinner. Sorry bro, your hooters are in the hospital."

Wilson had to laugh, House was enjoying this. "I'm leaving. Call me, I can come back on the weekend if you need help. Do you need me to give your team any instructions?"

"I'm on family leave...if they need me there's email and phones."

"Okay, call me."

House nodded.

When Wilson left and there was no one around, House picked up the baby again, sniffed and then kissed him. He smelled like a baby, sweet with powder and spoilt formula. House rubbed his beard against his little cheeks and kissed him again. He held him outstretched and then nuzzled him, kissing him again. He sat down and put him on his chest, kissing his head as the baby fell asleep to the sound of his father's heart.

Later, after another round of feeding and changing, House took Rex to bed and laid him down next to him in the bed and that's how they fell asleep. As soon as he cried, House put a hand on the baby's chest, looked at the alarm and saw that it was 3:00 am. House sat up, rubbed a hand over his face and got up. He went down to the stainless steel refrigerator and pulled out a bottle along with a bottle of beer for himself. He went back up, grabbed a towel and put it over his shoulder. Rex was now crying in earnest and House moaned back, "Alright, alright, I'm getting to it, just give me a chance you cheeky monkey."

House sat up in the bed and held Rex in his arms. He gave him the bottle which Rex sucked on greedily. "You're a hungry little bstrd, aren't you?" House took a drink of his beer. "You're definitely a House. Your grandmother said I ate all the time" House played with Rex's hands. "You've got piano fingers, like your sister and me. I hope you like music like she did. I hope you're as obstinate as she was. I hope you're smart and funny like her. And I hope you're level-headed like your Mom." Rex burped just as House raised him to his shoulder. House kissed him and laid him back on the bed. He grabbed a diaper and took him over to the floor. As soon as he took off the wet diaper, his son peed all over him. "You little piss-pot. I'll remember that. You wait, when I'm in a nursing home I'll make sure I piss all over you."

He wrapped Rex up again and kissed him again. He put him down on the bed again while House found a T-shirt in Maddie's drawer to change into. He took off his levis and laid down next to Rex in the bed. They both went back to sleep.

**CHAPTER 36**

**THE REIGN OF REX**

The following morning, House started the day all over again with formula, burping, bathing, and then the two laid down to take their naps together. There was a knock on the door. House went down, unlocked and opened it.

He was surprised to see a cold Maddie on the doorstep in just a pair of jeans and t-shirt. "Could you pay the cab? I'll pay you later." House stepped out into the cold fall day and went out to pay the cabbie. When he came in he looked for her. She was in the bathroom. When she came out, she glanced around for her son. House pointed upstairs, "He's in that rocking thing upstairs. We were napping. What are you doing home?"

"They released me, said I was okay. I have several bottles of things to take, including one to stimulate my milk again."

"That's good because he likes to eat. Why don't you go up and get some sleep?"

"I'm a little hungry."

"I'll make you a sandwich," House offered. "Go on up and lay down."

"Thanks."

She went up and looked at her son sleeping soundly in the bassinet. He wasn't crying anymore. He looked content and calm. She undressed and took a shower, then came out to the bedroom. There was a sandwich on a plate next to the bed and a glass of milk. House was standing over the bassinet looking down at Rex.

"Greg, thanks. For everything." She sat down and grabbed the sandwich and looked at it, "PBJ?"

"Yep. My specialty."

She laughed as she gladly ate the sandwich and drank her milk. She climbed in bed and looked at House who was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the baby.

"Greg, why are you doing this? Why are you taking care of us?"

He shook his head and snorted, "He's my son."

"No obligations."

"Except the ones that I choose to accept."

"I'm too tired to fight. I am glad that you're here." She crawled under the sheet. "By the way, did you score with that brunette?"

"Screwed her brains out until I got bored. I got bored rather quickly, she wasn't very bright."

Maddie shrugged, "At least you got something out of it."

"Why were you jealous of her?"

"Jealous?"

"You ran off as soon as you saw us exchanging phone numbers. You were jealous."

"You're ridiculous. I don't even like you."

He took off his shoes and jumped on the bed and laid down next to her. "I know, I find you atrociously boring too." He grabbed her and put his arm around her, nuzzling her neck and kissing her ear. They fell asleep.

A little over an hour later Rex began to cry. House and Maddie both sat up. Maddie turned to House, "My milk is letting down, you better hand him to me. House picked the baby up and handed him over. He stared lustily as she undid the button on her shirt and pulled it down over her shoulder. She exposed her breast and then let Rex latch on. She put a pillow under the baby and let him suckle. House continued to stare. He realized he was getting an erection.

She looked over at him. "Greg, you're staring at my breast."

"Of course I am, you'd be slighted if I didn't.

"Okay, but you're looking a little jealous."

"Well, he's taken my seat."

"You gave your seat up when you took that brunette's phone number."

"Ah! So you are jealous."

"If you need to believe that, fine." Maddie changed the baby and put him down. House pulled her into bed and spooned her.

"When can you have sex?"

"Never. Not with you. Those days are over, they're in the past now. Go find your brunette if you need to screw someone."

"But sex with you is so convenient." He cuddled even closer, "And we fit so well together."

She wrestled out of his hold and turned to face him, "Greg, when I am able to have sex, it won't be with you anymore. I can't, I have a child now and it would be too confusing for him if his mother and father were having sex, but not really together. Hell, it would be too confusing for me."

He sat up and looked down at her, "Is there someone else?"

"What do you mean? Someone else?"

"Are you sleeping with someone else?"

"No."

He looked at her sideways and then stared straight into her eyes, "I don't believe you. There is someone else."

"I'm not sleeping with _anyone _right now."

"But you _want _to sleep with someone else." He was up in her face.

"I don't have to answer that."

"Yes, you do."

She squinted her eyes, looked at him, shook her head and got up. She went downstairs and started to clean up. She threw a load of laundry in the washer. He followed, stood silently and watched her. She ran out of steam fairly quickly and so she sat down.

"Why don't you go back up and lay down and take it easy? And take your antibiotics."

An hour later Rex started crying again. Maddie got up and went to get him. She brought him, some diapers, a washcloth and some lotion downstairs. She fed him and then burped him. She started to change his diaper, lifting the wet one off of the baby, getting ready to put the clean one on when the baby sent a stream of pee onto her chest.

"Ahhg. I forgot about boys." She continued to change him and clean him up.

House picked him up. "I'll take it from here, you go and get cleaned up, lay down and get well."

Okay, I guess I'll go on up." As she went up the stairs, she saw House standing and holding the baby stiffly, almost as if the child were an inanimate object. She climbed the stairs and then heard House saying something, at first she thought he might be talking to her so she went down the stairs. He had been talking to the baby. She watched him cooing and blowing softly on the baby's face. She sat down on the stairs on a step just low enough so she could see them.

House was kissing and nuzzling the baby and talking non-stop to him about Thelonious Monk. Rather than holding the baby like an inanimate object, House was cuddling and bouncing him in his arms. Seeing House with Rex made her both sad and happy. She wondered what he would have been like with Chu-chu at that age. It was strange to see that House had such a soft side to him. He was enjoying himself. She decided to try a little experiment. She snuck up a step or two and then coughed and walked down the steps. It was night and day. House was frozen, his face emotionless and he was holding the baby like a plastic doll in his arms.

She smiled, "You fraud."

"What?"

"You're a fraud Gregory House. _You_ have a soft spot for that baby. I was sitting there on the stairs watching you with him. Why do you have to hide it from others?"

"It's not _that baby._ He's Tearlach Rex, you can call him Rex."

"That's another thing. Who let you name the baby?"

"He's not "the baby"...he's Rex. And we went over this. If you had been interested enough you would have had a name picked out."

"But Rex? T. Rex? He's going to get a lot of ribbing."

"Nah, T. Rex is cool. Mean...alpha male sounding. He'll be fine."

"You avoided my question, why are you so afraid to show others your affection for the ba...Rex?"

He said nothing. He scowled and sat the baby down on the couch and walked off to sit in the chair.

"Oh so now you're going to stop? The baby is punished because I discovered you enjoy kissing and playing with him?"

He looked away from her and then sighed, "Okay, I'll tell you why. He doesn't judge anyone, he doesn't judge me. He can't say anything to piss me off yet. He's helpless and _you_," He stared at Maddie while adding venom to his voice, "you aren't giving him any love or affection, are you?" She took a step back, her mouth dropping open ever so slightly. She turned and ran upstairs.

That night, after his midnight feeding, House put the baby down and kissed him softly. "Hey dude, you're lookin' girly in that flannel onesy. But I'm sure you can handle the ribbing. See ya in a few hours."

He undressed down to his shorts and climbed in bed behind Maddie. She sat up, "You should go sleep on the couch."

He chuckled, "I'm staying here with Rex and you. What are you worried about? You can't have sex anyway. It's not like anything is going to happen, unless you want to work some magic with that tongue of yours?"

"No thanks. We can't keep sleeping together."

"You're not telling me everything." He looked at me sideways, but then he laid back down on his pillow. "I'm going to sleep here with you and my son. You can go downstairs if it bothers you."

He pulled the blankets up and appeared to sleep. It was a little chilly in the house, and she found herself taking advantage of the heat his body was giving off. She nestled up next to him, he turned over and spooned her with his arms draped over her. He pretended to be asleep and she let him pretend just to avoid having to deal with his smugness. He was nice and warm. He allowed his arm to graze her breasts and it sent a little twinge of sexual desire through him. She felt something start to stir around back so she turned over and away from him. House smiled to himself.

At 4:00 am she got up with Rex, fed him, cleaned him up, and actually sat down with him in the rocker in the second bedroom. He looked up at her, trying to focus and within a few minutes he was asleep. Maddie stared at her son and for the first time, took note of his features. He looked like his sister did when she was born except his hair was darker. She knew right away that he would look like his father and not her. She held him up to her face and she smelled him. The baby smells overwhelmed her, reminding her of Chu-chu. She found herself missing Chu-chu. She kissed Rex and smiled at him. Maybe he was healthy, maybe he would bury her. At 5:30 am, she took him up and put him down to sleep. She turned and could barely see from the street light outside that House was now spread out on the bed like Da Vinci's "Vetruvian Man." She crawled into bed and put her head on the only space available, House's chest. She would have seen the smile cross his lips if she hadn't already closed her eyes to go back to sleep.

When she got up for the 7:30 am feeding, she breast fed Rex and House told her to go back to sleep, he'd get him cleaned up and play with him. She gratefully went back to sleep. House took Rex downstairs so he could get some cereal and make some coffee. He hoisted Rex on his left shoulder and used his cane in his right and he fiddled around in the kitchen and even put a load of laundry on. He was just pouring his third cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door.

House went to the front door and opened it, Rex perched on his shoulder. A handsome man, about six feet tall, grey eyes, dark grey hair and an impeccable suit with the perfect tie, stood at the door with a dozen red roses. House examined the visitor like a parent checking out the pimple faced sixteen year old who had come to pick up their daughter.

"Yes?" House asked.

House watched as a glint of surprise passed fleetingly through the man's face. He gained control and smiled, "Dr. House?"

"You have the advantage, I don't know who you are."

"Dr. Simon Hodgson, the director of the museum. Is she home?"

"Yes, but she is asleep right now. Come on in, I expect that she'll get up soon to feed the baby."

"Can I trade the roses for the baby?" he held out the roses to House.

"I'm afraid that I don't know the going rate for a baby boy so I don't know if it's a fair trade."

Simon chuckled. He put the roses down on the dining table and put his arms out to hold Rex.

House was reluctant to hand Rex over, but he slowly put the baby in Simon's arms, the two men eyeing each other up and down. House took the roses and put them in water.

Simon looked at Rex, "How is Maddie doing?"

"She's tired, but she's doing well, now. So...Simon...red roses?"

Simon came close to blushing, but remembered Maddie's description of House. "Yes, red roses. Was it too much? I mean we do go out together every week..." he picked up a slight hint that House was stunned, but House hid it very well. "So Dr. House, Maddie said that you two are just friends. Is that true?"

"She said that? Just friends? Hmmm. I guess you could call what we do friendly."

Simon almost laughed. House was baiting him. "Well, yes, I suspect that you and Maddie did have to get friendly to create the baby. By the way, what did she name him? She wasn't sure when I talked to her at the hospital."

'You went to the hospital to see her?"

Now it was his turn to bait, "No, she went into labor Friday morning. I took her to the hospital when she went into labor, I was with her when she delivered the baby."

Simon saw he had hit a blow, House's lips pressed firmly together and his nostrils flared. "She was in labor for six hours and no problems. I had to leave Saturday for a conference, I just got back. It was incredible, holding the baby just after he was born."

A jealous House burst out with, "Well, I named him."

Simon smiled, "Really, what did you name him?"

"Tearlach Rex."

"Are you joking? T. Rex?"

"Tearlach is my grandfather's name. Rex is...well, Rex."

He is awfully small to be a T.Rex. But he is a sweet baby. How did you end up here? I heard you had chosen a brunette over Maddie."

"She told you that?"

"She just said the last time she was with you, you hooked up with a brunette and made it clear that you were just friends. I guess I didn't need to ask if you were just friends. If you were interested in Maddie, you wouldn't be flirting with a brunette. I should be grateful, it means I can have Maddie all to myself."

"Why would I want her?"

"You have a point. She hasn't exactly said nice things about you, except that you make great babies."

The word is "we", we make great babies...together...in bed."

"I assume that phase of your _friendship_ has come to an end. If she wants great babies, I'm sure that there are others with great chromosomes she can enlist. If you know what I mean?" He winked at House.

House clenched his jaw and asked, "Do you want some coffee?"

They heard her coming down the stairs. She appeared in dark blue velvet sweat pants and a low-cut button shirt that showed off her round topped breasts. Simon smiled and House felt a shot of jealously go through him. Maddie smiled at Simon as she walked up to him. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug. "Simon, I'm so happy to see you. How was your trip?"

"Awful. I kept worrying about you and the baby. You didn't answer your cell phone."

"I had to be readmitted for an infection, but I'm fine now. I see you've met Greg. Has he offered you something to drink?"

"Yes, I was just about ready to accept a cup of coffee, just milk." He said to House.

"Did you see Rex?" she asked.

"I take it you didn't name him Rex?" Simon asked.

"No I didn't name him, Greg did."

"So he said."

"Are you feeling well now?"

"I am feeling better."

"Well, we are setting up a creche for you at work so that you can come back to work part time if you want. We, no I mean, I, miss you."

Maddie looked at the two of them and drew in a breath. Rex started to cry and Maddie turned to pick Rex up."

She walked over to the couch, undid her blouse and let Rex latch on. Simon and House both watched as the plump white breast came out of the blouse. The look that Simon exchanged with House made Maddie uneasy.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 37**

**KEEPING ABREAST**

I was so used to exposing my breast around House that I forgotten that Simon had never seen it. He and House looked at each other and judging from the smile on House's face, he found Simon's reaction amusing. I found it rather lustful. Simon's eyes latched like Rex onto my breast, he swallowed hard and quickly licked his lip. I felt like I was a porno queen and these two males were waiting their turns.

House looked at me and smiled evilly, like a naughty boy. Simon had to look away to avoid looking like House did, like a hound dog. I didn't dare apologize, I was committed to the act and had to appear that it was natural to just plop my breast out and let my baby nurse. Okay, it is natural, but had I been thinking, I would have put a towel over me so that Simon wouldn't have been placed in this position of pretending that my breast was not a temptation.

Simon drank his coffee quickly, "Well Dr. House, will you be going back to Princeton tonight?"

"No, why should I?" He asked. "I'm on family leave. I can take up to two months off to help with the baby.'

I was startled by this comment, "Greg, I appreciate all that you've done, but I won't be needing you're here on out. I can manage. You can go back to Princeton."

Simon spoke up, "Yes, I'll look in on them and make sure they're well."

"You are being too generous. I have the time off, I'll stay a little longer just to make sure _my son_ is off to a good start. You can both understand my desire to want to make sure he's well and knows his Dad."

It was those last words that sent a chill down my spine. _He wants the baby to know his Dad. _I was doomed to have Greg House in my life, God forbid.

I must have looked like I was in shock, my mouth and eyes were wide open. House just snickered and Simon came over and sat down by me. He patted by knee in consolation. I said nothing back to House while Simon was there. My protests could wait until Simon had left.

An hour later, after I had put Rex down for a nap, Simon announced he was leaving. Simon kissed me on the lips, lightly, and left, promising to return soon to see me and Rex. As soon as he left, I jumped up and cornered House, "Come on, no B.S., I need to know what game you're playing. What do you want from me? What do you want out of all this? I can't operate in a vacuum. I'm too stressed by everything that has happened over the last year. Please don't play me, we're talking about our son."

House looked down and fiddled with his shirt. He sat down and looked over at me. "He's not good enough for you." I shook my head. He held back and then began again, "You want to know what I want? I want to be a part of Rex's life. I don't want to go to court."

I looked at him. He was naked in his desire, he just wanted to be a part of Rex's life. He wanted to be a father. The man who didn't know how to be a father, wanted to be one to his son. There was no denying that he would be granted some form of custody, but even so, I didn't need a court to see that the baby would be good for House and House would be good for our son.

I grabbed his hand and held it. "I want you to be a part of Rex's life, he needs you and I could never deprive him of that. What do you suggest we do?"

"I'd like to have him for a weekend each month and maybe, when he's older, for more time? And if you need anyone to watch him, that you check with me first."

"I think that's a fair arrangement."

"I also plan on contributing some money."

That made me a little prickly. "No, I don't need your money. I make enough to keep us comfortable."

"I still want to pay for his nanny."

"Nanny?"

You're going to have to have someone watch him when you go back to work full time. I'd rather he have a nanny than he be sent to daycare for the first year. I'll contribute $2,000 each month, use it for that."

"I hadn't thought about using a nanny."

"You told me this job will involve travel, what were you going to do with Rex when you left?"

"Ummm. I thought I might take him with me."

"You know that you can't take him with you on these trips. So it would be better to have a nanny available for these trips."

I hate when he makes sense. I nodded and sighed, "Okay. Do you want to help choose the nanny so you can find one you might like to diddle?"

He gave me a half smile. "Are you done insulting me?"

I nodded.

"I also want you to stop seeing this Simon, there's something about him I don't like."

"Yeah, like maybe he finds me pretty and interesting rather than dull and boring?"

He waved his head and frowned, "I think you're pretty and maybe you aren't so boring these days. But you deserve better."

"Better than a single man in his mid-forties who runs an important museum, is educated, handsome and funny?"

"I'm handsome and funny," he said without batting an eye.

I tilted my head to look at him, what was he trying to say to me? "You're being vague and ambiguous. Are you saying I should be with you?"

"Why would I say that?"

"Oh God, here we go again. Fine, play your game. At least we have a decision about the baby. I'm happy about that. I think it's a good decision." I got up and went into the kitchen, frustrated with his games. The only problem is that I had to ask myself, _What would have been my answer if he had said yes?_

He stayed. Wilson brought him a bag of clothing and books. I kept hinting that he could go home, but he stayed. Each night I told him to go sleep on the couch or buy a bed for the baby's room; but I'd go into the bathroom to brush my teeth and come out to find my bed filled with a sleeping House. I thought I'd short circuit this one night. When I found him already asleep in my bed, I went and grabbed a pillow and blanket and went downstairs to the couch. I laid down and fell into a comfortable sleep. One thing about my taste in furniture, it's comfortable. I hate furniture that looks pretty but feels like hell when you use it.

I woke up to a crying baby, five feet away in a bassinet and House draped over me on the couch. I pushed him off of me and he fell on the floor. I picked up the baby, pulled up my pajama top and gave him my breast. House sat on the floor looking up at me and the baby, giving me a Cheshire Cat grin.

"I gave you the bed..._I gave you the bed!_" I was frustrated and my milk wasn't letting down because of it. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. The baby started fussing when the milk wouldn't flow. "Christ, now my milk won't let down."

"Let me have him for a minute."

"Why?" I asked.

"Trust me."

I handed Rex to him and he unceremoniously placed him down on the carpet. Rex wriggled and cried and then howled. I wanted to pick him up, but House wouldn't let me. He held me back with his hand. I was getting upset, but the howling had started my milk flowing. As soon as House saw the dark stains forming on my t-shirt, he handed Rex to me. Rex latched on and was happy as a clam. House continued to sit on the floor until I finished. He changed Rex and I changed my top. I climbed into bed this time and within minutes both my boys were in bed too. One in the bassinet, the other draped over me.

I gave up after that. I stopped trying to getting him to go back to Princeton. But it turned out that he was exceptionally talented at keeping a baby entertained. He had several sounds that caught Rex's attention. Simon came over several times and sparred with House. One evening I made dinner for the two of them and I felt like I was in the middle of the Revolutionary War.

"Watch it Simon, you're living rather dangerously for an Englishman."

"Really?" Simon said sarcastically.

"Yes, you ate your After Eights at 7:30...you could be in trouble with the British moral authority."

Later when House said he had some Dutch, Scottish, English and Irish in him, Simon quipped, "Very sporting of your mother, wasn't it?"

Finally, House took Rex upstairs. Simon, cornering me in the kitchen, asked me quickly, "Where is he sleeping?"

"Here."

"No, I mean, where is he sleeping in your apartment?"

I knew what he was asking and I knew the answer would upset him. "Simon, I can't have sex yet. Not for another month."

"That's not an answer. Where is he sleeping?"

"Okay...I've asked him to sleep on the couch, but he won't, he sleeps in my bed next to Rex's bassinet. I've tried sleeping on the couch and him in the bed, but it doesn't work."

I waited for his response. It didn't take long. He nodded, looked hurt and announced, "I think I'll be going home now. I'll call you."

"Please understand, it's just for a few more days. I'm not having sex with him."

He said very sweetly, "I understand Maddie. I can see how obnoxious and stubborn he is..." He thought for a second, "You have your hands full with the baby and Greg. You don't need two bulls locking their horns around you and making it even more stressful. I can wait. He'll eventually go home and then we can be together."

"Oh Simon, thank you so much. You don't know what it's like. It will be great when he goes home to Princeton, then I can get into my own rhythm. I'll call you as soon as he goes home."

Simon gave me a kiss, a real one on the lips with a little tongue and then a second, brief kiss on the lips. I felt nervous about it, like I didn't want House to see it or I'd never hear the end of it. Simon grabbed his coat and left.

House came downstairs and looked around for Simon. He smiled victoriously at me. I shook my head at him, "Oh, don't think you've won. I just awarded him a lot of Brownie points for purposefully going home and relieving me of some of the stress of your pissing contest."

"Oooh, I am so impressed..." He gave me a silly look, his eyes bugged and his face smiling.

When we got in bed and he put his arm around me, I threw it off and jumped up. I snapped, "Stay on your own side tonight."

"It's a full bed, what side am I suppose to be on?"

"You're suppose to be in your queen size bed in Princeton."

"Who would keep you warm?"

"Why aren't you at home? I'm okay now. It's been two weeks, I can handle it."

"Come to bed."

"Come to bed, come to bed. That's it? _Who will rid me of this turbulent priest!"_

"Admit it, you like sleeping with me."

"Enjoying sleeping with you is not the same as a relationship."

"It's half way there. Now come to bed."

I crawled back in bed and gave him the satisfaction of smiling victoriously at me. He pulled me towards him. I tried to turn over to put my back to him but he clamped his legs over me, grabbed my hair and kissed me. He felt me up, pulled up my t-shirt and started sucking me, my milk started to let down and he pulled back.

"I forgot." He smiled, "The milk is sweet. No wonder Rex likes the milk bar."

"Stop this, we aren't having sex."

"You aren't, I am. For Christ's sakes, I lay next to you every night, your breasts push into me, I see you nurse with this," he fondled my breast, "and I need a release.'

"That's what your hand is for..."

"Or your hand. Come on, I won't tell Simon."

"I can't even have sex."

"You can't have intercourse, it doesn't mean we can't get each other off." And with that he took a nose dive under the covers. He opened my legs and started licking and sucking.

I pushed his head away and he came right back. I kept pushing and he kept coming back. Between the physical exertion of fending him off and the licking and sucking he was getting in, my body finally said "screw it." I stopped pushing him off and his tongue took over. I pushed up on my elbows and watched his head, felt his tongue and could feel it warm on me, wet on me. I wish we could have screwed, my whole body was aching for him, part of my brain was trying to figure out what would be the problem if I did ride him. It was only two weeks. I wasn't sure if it was the sex I was craving or just feeling him inside of me, us having that connection. I started to concentrate on the feel of his tongue and it took less than a minute for me to feel the tiny tingling and the muscles contract. He must have felt my thigh muscles knot because he added more pressure and my mouth opened up and I screamed so loud that Rex started to whimper. House came back up and began sucking and licking my breasts. He took my hand and put it around his hard on, I began stroking it and then I pushed him up so that I could go down on him. He raised up to the pillow smiling as my head went down. I sucked and licked until he moaned and started to thrust. I managed to keep up with him and finally he let loose. He was pleased with himself and his face showed it.

"You have a little...right there." He pointed to my chin.

I frowned and got up and went into the bathroom. I wasn't there more than five minutes, but when I came out he was snoring with the sweetest childlike look on his face I had seen. He looked like an angel and I felt like a whore. He didn't want me, he wanted to see what he could get out of me. I went to sleep hating him, but hating myself even more. I was always so grounded in life, I could handle work, I could handle my finances, I could handle just about every aspect of my life, but I couldn't handle Greg House. My emotions were all over the board. I blamed childbirth and my hormones. I should have blamed Greg House, he was playing me.

The next morning he brought me a cup of tea and some toast in bed. He was happy. He played with the baby for quite awhile, smothering him with affection in front of me. He didn't try to hide his obvious love for his son. I was happy and I was jealous. He had learned how to love his son, but he couldn't find his way to love me.

"Greg, you have to go." He looked at me like I was crazy, "Seriously, you have to go back to Princeton. You're welcome to come back on the weekends to see Rex, but I need a break from you. Last night should never have happened. I feel dirty doing what we did. I feel like I've cheated on Simon. I told him we weren't having sex.'

"According to Bill Clinton, it wasn't."

"Yeah, and he almost got impeached for that non-sex. But you still need to go home. I'm serious. I need a break from you. I can't think straight when you're around."

He nodded and picked up what few things he had around the apartment. He picked up Rex, rocked him for a minute, kissed him and put him down. He grabbed his keys and took one look at me, then left.Why did I feel so empty? Every time I said goodbye to that man, I felt more alone than before.

House didn't come on the weekend and I didn't call to ask why. The following week I went back to work. I planned to work a few hours each day for the next month and then try to return full time the following month. I had Rex in a sling and carried all of his accessories into the new creche they had set up next to my office. It was an exclusive creche, just my son, but it was sweet. There were two cribs, linens, mobiles, diapers, diaper pail, two rockers and a nice paint scheme. A stream of people came in to see Rex who was now in Simon's arms. We were standing in the office, Robert, Steve and Diana were standing around checking Rex out.

Diana took Rex from Simon. "My God this child has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen. They make Simon's blue eyes look dull. And his name is T. Rex?"

Bob's eyebrows lifted and a grin spread across his face, "I can't believe that you named your kid T.Rex, how cool is that?"

"I didn't, his father did."

"Father?" they all said in unison.

"Did you think he was by immaculate conception?"

All three of them shook their head, "By turkey baster."

My jaw dropped, "You guys don't think I have sex?"

"We've just never heard you talk about anyone...before Simon."

My mouth stayed open at the shock of them mentioning Simon and I as a couple. I wanted to ask how they knew, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it. I accepted all the little presents that they gave me and was happy to see that one of them was a t-shirt of Tyrannosaurus Rex with a big "T.Rex" written across it. Simon had bought it for me.

Everyone cooed over Rex and he seemed to enjoy b eing passed around to everyone. He needed to be fed so everyone left but Simon, who now seemed to think that I had no objections to him seeing my breast. I felt it was the least I could do for him after all he had been through.

After everyone went back to work, Simon came into my office and sat down on a chair. "I thought I would give you the head's up. Your favorite Wally, House, has just donated $20,000 to the museum."

I was so stunned I said nothing. "What does that mean?"

"It means that he's now a Life Patron and he will receive our monthly newsletter, a lovely t-shirt, a plaque and a standing invitation to every event at the museum, including the Winter Ball, which, by the way, I was going to ask you to attend with me."

"But why? Why? I've told him he can have access to Rex any time. Why do this?"

"He wants access to you. You didn't tell me that the wanker was in love with you."

"Oh, believe me, he's not. He just likes to mess with people. This is his way of messing with me. He'll grow tired of it."

The next weekend at 10 am the doorbell rang and Simon, who had spent his first night with me, sans sex, answered the door while I was in the shower. I went downstairs in my robe, laughing at something Simon had said the night before about needing a bundling board. I had a big grin and was about to say something to Simon when I looked up and my eyes met House's. He was holding Rex. Simon was standing near the kitchen, not happy at all.

"Greg?" I paused, a little shocked, "Why didn't you call before coming over."

"I didn't think I had to...you said I could see him on the weekends. This is the weekend."

"It would still be considerate of you to call and let me know you're on your way."

"I'm going to take him out for awhile. I thought we'd take a trip to Valley Forge."

"You want to take him out? He's just four weeks old."

"He's going to be okay, if you're worried, come with me."

I looked at Simon who was rolling his eyes at House's more than obvious ploy to get me to go with him. Simon spoke up, "We can all go."

Simon couldn't see it, but I could see the sly smile on House's face. We packed up the baby, bundled up and just as we were about to leave, Simon got a phone call. His face contorted and he hung up.

"We've had a problem with the Winter Ball, the major sponsor wants to meet with me right away. I'm sorry, but you and House are going to have to go on your excursion without me."

"Oh no Simon, I was looking forward to having the weekend with you."

He kissed me and said, "Next weekend darling. Well Greg, have a good time and take good care of these two. Oh, and thank you for your generous donation." Simon grabbed his duffel bag, his coat and left.

"Gee that's a shame. I was looking forward to spending the day with Simon, catching up on everything. Shall we go?" We started walking towards the street. I headed to my car because it had the baby seat in it. He pulled my arm towards his car. I looked and saw in the back of his car a brand new infant seat, properly installed. I chuckled and opened the back door to put Rex in his new seat. House started the card and started driving. We drove for awhile and instead of going to Valley Forge, he drove northeast towards Princeton.

"Where are we going?"

"Princeton."

"Why Princeton?"

"It's where I live. I'm taking him to see my place."

"Turn this car around and take us to Valley Forge."

"Later, maybe tomorrow."

"Greg, you drive me nuts."

"Short drive."

I was so angry that I just shut up. We got to Princeton and we drove over to a lovely two story house. I put Rex in his carrier and we walked up to the stoop. I wanted to know what we were doing there, but I was so angry, I didn't ask.

House knocked on the door and Lisa Cuddy answered. She smiled and immediately went for Rex. "Ohhhh, he's beautiful. His eyes are gorgeous, such a beautiful blue, just like his sister and his Dad." she took him from the carrier and we all walked inside.

I was surprised to see Chase, Jim, Cameron, Foreman and a blonde woman that I didn't know. The blonde was following House with her eyes. Everyone except the blonde came up and gave me a kiss and then took turns passing Rex around.

House didn't introduce me, but Jim did, "Maddie, Foreman was promoted to his own department. This is my new Fellow, Christy. You should learn from Christy, she adores me, hangs on my every word."

Christy blushed. "Greg...please stop that."

I looked at House, "Greg? Not House? What did you two screw?" I hadn't expected to hit pay dirt, but from the quick look away and then her head dropping to look at her feet, I realized they had slept together. I looked at House, rolled my eyes and shook my head. I heard my crying son and went over to feed him. I went up to Lisa's bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. House walked into the bedroom and leaned up against the chest of drawers to watch me.

"I don't believe you, she's what, 27? 28? Just out of med school? Is she brilliant or just eye candy? "

"Both."

"You're disgusting. Sleeping with your employee."

"Excuse me? _Simon_? You're forgetting Simon."

"It's different. I'm established in my field, Christy isn't. I have an iron clad contract, I'm sure Christy has one that can be broken or bent. You're so pathetic."

"Hey, she wanted to summit Mt. Gregory, can you blame her? You've seen the sites from up there." He shrugged, " You don't want me, and it gets lonely on Mt. Gregory without any climbers."

I switched breasts and he continued to watch. "What are we doing here?"

"They all wanted to see the baby. It's a little baby shower."

I felt guilty, they were throwing me a baby shower and I was in a foul mood. I finished up, changed Rex's diaper and went out to the living room with my happy face on, followed by a smug House.

The shower was great, they had decorations, sandwiches, a cake, ice cream and presents. Everyone seemed to be genuinely impressed with Rex who still wasn't much more than a blob who slept, ate and pooped. But when he opened up those blue eyes, they could melt you, like his Dad. The only person not fawning over my son was Christy. She seemed to be somewhat subdued.

We had a good time talking about PPTH and dinosaurs. I promised to invite them to the unveiling of our T.Rex and if they wanted a tour of the Paleontology lab, I'd give them a personal one. We were getting to go when I saw House say something to Christy which made her smile. We said our goodbyes, House carried Rex to the car and I hugged all of them goodbye except for Christy who had mysteriously disappeared.

On the drive home I wasn't sure what to say to him except to thank him. "Greg, thanks, this was very nice, very sweet. I don't understand you sometimes. You parade us out like we're a family, but then you make sure your girlfriend is there."

"Once again, have you forgotten Simon?"

"I haven't forgotten Simon. Oh, just forget it. I don't know what I'm trying to say."

"You love me?" he teased.

"Is that what you want me to say?" I really wanted to know the answer to the question.

He pretended to be thinking about it, "That, or, we'll be home in ten minutes, do you want some head?"

I kept my mouth shut, I didn't find his answer funny or responsive to the unanswered question between us. We arrived home around seven pm and I nursed Rex and put him down for the evening.

"Do you want some coffee?"

"Nope, I have a date, I've got to get back."

"That's why she disappeared. What is she warming your bed?"

"I sure hope so, I gave her my key. If not, I'm locked out."

I shook my head, "Go home."

He smiled and waved goodbye.

**CHAPTER 38 **

**PISSING CONTEST**

December 21st was busy, Maddie's staff had to finish their assays before noon when they closed the lab for the holiday season. The scientists had the next two weeks off and Maddie needed it. She still had to find a dress for the Winter Ball which was going to start at 7:00pm that night. She also needed one for the New year's Eve American Paleontologist New Year Eve's Awards and Dance.

House and Maddie were being honored for their T. Rex find. Maddie was being given an award for her controversial article on T. Rex's, an article that put her in direct contradiction of Jack Benton's book on T. Rex. Jack Benson and Maddie had spent hours debating the T. Rex issues at the camp over the last three years. He thought that her theories should be aired so that they could be debated in the larger Paleontology forum. He was the one who had encouraged her to write the article. She had never meant to start the minor skirmish it had. Jack had taken the fallout in stride, Maddie hadn't. Maddie didn't want anyone to think that Jack and she were at each other's throats over their disagreement, but people did. Maddie had to field calls from Paleontologists all over the world asking her if Jack and she were now bitter rivals. It hurt her, Jack just ignored it.

After the lab closed at noon, Maddie biked over to Wanamaker's to buy a ball dress. She tried on several dresses but they were low cut and her more than ample breasts were displayed in a way that made he feel uncomfortable. She chose a modest ball gown made out of Duponi silk. It was a floor length olive green square neck with cap sleeves and a full skirt that touched just above her shoes. It was elegant, but somewhat boring. She looked for a second dress for New Year's Eve, but didn't find one.

She went home, fed Rex, pumped some milk out for him and thanked the nanny for staying overnight. Maddie got dressed. Her hair was now shoulder length and she had it syled behind her ear. Her makeup was light and she felt pretty in her ball gown. She switched purses to her evening bag, put on her gold earrings and waited for Simon to pick her up. When he arrived in a tuxedo, she thought he was incredibly handsome.

"Darling, you look lovely."

"Do you like it? I had a hard time picking something out."

"You look great, subtle and sophisticated. Shall we go?"

Maddie nodded and they made their way out the door and to Simon's Lexus. When they got in and buckled up, Simon said as nonchalantly as he could, "House purchased two tickets to the Winter Ball."

Her heart skipped a beat, "Really? I guess he'll be bringing Christy."

"Christy?"

"He's dating one of his Fellows, a woman named Christy."

"This should be interesting."

"It shouldn't be. You know that we seen each other just about every weekend."

"Yes, I know...too well."

Simon was upset because the weekend before, when no one answered the bell, House had strolled in and walked upstairs to find Simon and I screwing, me on top. When I saw House I was startled and wrenched myself off of Simon, causing him and his willy, great discomfort. We were afraid that we were going to have to take him into the hospital but it turned out to be a rather nasty bruise and twist. He was well enough a few days later to try give it a go again.

After a lot of screaming on Maddie's part, House agreed to not come upstairs unless someone was home and they knew of his presence. House had found it somewhat unsettling to see Maddie straddled over another man. He didn't think he would be so disturbed by it, but he was. Maddie wasn't sure what she thought.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 39**

**SHALL WE DANCE?**

Maddie and Simon arrived at the Marriott early to insure that everything was on track. The committee that spearheaded the Winter Ball had been exceptionally organized and the decorations looked breathtaking. Walking into the ballroom was like walking into a fairytale winter scene of silver and white everywhere. Lots of snowflakes and ice cycles hanging from things. It was beautiful.

Maddie helped set up the reception table and then joined Simon, who was talking to some donors who had been one of the first to show up. By 7:30 pm, the majority of people were ready for their dinner. The tickets had been $250 each, including an open bar. Over 300 people had paid to come to the event. The servers had asked that everyone be seated so that dinner could be served. Maddie had been talking to Bob and his wife. Maddie enjoyed Bob's company, he was from California and knew a lot of the places that Maddie did, but he and his wife would not be seated at the same table. All of the scientists and administrators were scattered throughout the room so that each table would have someone familiar with the Academy to talk to about the programs and hopefully drum up contributions.

Maddie turned to find Simon so that they could find their table when she locked eyes with House. She smiled at him, he looked incredibly sexy in his tuxedo, his hair groomed, his beard clipped and his blue eyes shining. She saw that, on his arm was Christy and she was nothing short of stunning. She had on a red ball gown that was off the shoulder and cut deeply to show her breasts. The dress emphasized her tiny waist. She had green eyes and deep brown hair. Maddie felt like a pork shoulder to Christy's filet mignon. Maddie asked herself why she even cared what Christy looked like. If Christy kept House occupied, Maddie should be grateful.

Simon motioned for Maddie to join him in search for their table. He pulled out his ticket. She knew that they would be seated with the high rollers, those who had contributed a lot of money to the Academy.

"We're at table 2, up there." Simon said.

They walked up to the table, Maddie put down her purse and picked up the menu. She glanced at the place card next to her andwent cold, Gregory House was printed on the card. She started to get anxious. She whispered to Simon, "Oh my God, Simon, they put House next to me."

The corner of Simon's mouth turned down, his eyes narrowed and his fist balled up. "I should have made sure this didn't happen."

"I'll just move it over." I started to reach for the place card when Simon cleared his throat and nodded behind me.

"Move what over?" House asked.

She turned and gave him a rather displeased look. He gave Maddie a sly smile and then calmly said, "Oh, isn't this nice? They've sat me next to the mother of my children." He then pulled out the chair for Christy, who had a perturbed look on her face. She was not pleased that she was at Maddie's table.

Simon pulled Maddie's chair out and they sat down. The chairman of the ball committee stopped by the table, "Dr. House, thank you for sponsoring the champagne toast tonight, I'm glad we could accommodate you. Dr. Doyle, I understand that you and Dr. House are good friends. Well, I must get back to my table, but thanks again Dr. House."

Now that she was only one chair away from Christy, Maddie felt even more like a frump. She wanted to crawl under the table and hide. Christy was young, beautiful and even looked fairly intelligent.

Simon was kind enough to break the ice, "Dr. House, I heard that Chu-chu has an intact skull, congratulations."

"Thank you. But Maddie would know more about that, she's the one flying up to observe the dig."

"That does remind me Greg, National Geographic wants to do a spread on us and Chu-chu, when she's completely excavated." Maddie said.

One of the other patrons at the table chimed in, "Dr. Doyle and Dr. House, is the Academy getting your dinosaur?"

Maddie blushed, if she said no, it looked like she wasn't a supporter of her own museum. She was hoping House would save her, say something, but he just smiled and looked at her for the answer, "The dinosaur will be auctioned off but will not necessarily go to the highest bidder. Greg and I have the ability to veto a deal. We have the final say."

Maddie felt House's hand come up on her thigh. She jumped a little and then swallowed hard. Her hands were on the table emphasizing a point. If she had grabbed his hand, it would have been very obvious to the museum supporters.

_He better get those damn long fingers off my thigh...oh,no...he didn't just touch me there...that SOB. Why doesn't he feel up his own date._

Maddie slowly put her hand below the table and pulled his hand off her thigh. He put his hand back but didn't grab her thigh, he grabbed her hand and held it. She refused to clasp it and tried to tug hers out with a jerk, but he held fast. The conversation took off, but Maddie and House conspicuously said nothing. They were too busy hand wrestling under the table.

Maddie finally turned to House and leaned into him, smiling. "Let go or I make a scene in front of Christy."

House looked directly into her eyes, they stared at each other like boxers in opposite corners. The whole table stopped to watch the two stare at each other. House let her hand go. "No, Maddie, I don't see anything in your eye, you must have got it.'

"Thank you Greg."

"Glad to lend a hand."

She smiled at the double entendre and then turned back to the conversation. After dinner when the music started, Simon asked her to dance. "Not yet Simon, I'm don't know how to dance to this."

"It's a fairly simple waltz, darling. Christy, would you care to dance?"

She obviously enjoyed it, "I would love to." She got up and the two of them looked spectacular on the dance floor.

House turned to Maddie, "You look sad, darling."

"I'd love to dance, but I don't know how to do ballroom maneuvers. I hate to admit it to Simon, he's so smooth on the dance floor."

House jumped up grabbed his cane and then grabbed Maddie's hand. "Come with me."

"House, I can't go with you. After that incident in the bedroom, Simon doesn't want me to be alone with you."

"Come on, or I'll have to make a rather loud remark about our sex life."

"You are such an sshole." she said as she put her drink down on the table.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go."

Maddie followed House who went to a side hall next to the ballroom on the service side. "They're playing a waltz right now. Stand to my side and follow my feet."

House showed her the basic waltz box. She followed along." he stepped in front of her as she did her box, he did the male lead box, occasionally using his cane for support. They weren't holding each other yet, just completing the box. "Now hold your arms out like they're wrapped around a basket. That's the type of frame you need in a waltz. He held her arms in place and they waltzed the box as if they had a basket between them. The band started the next waltz. He bent a little at the waist and stepped forward taking her right arm in the traditional bent arm pose on her right side. He then took her arm, still shaped in the basket pose, and put it on his left shoulder. He looked down into her eyes and then began the box. She stumbled a little. "Don't give up your day job. Dancing with the Stars isn't going to be knocking on your door anytime soon."

They started again and they danced the box, then House pulled her enough to lead her into a small circle and then he pulled her into a big circle. They danced the entire dance, House a little off balance on occasion but leaning on Maddie when he needed support.

"You're looking at your feet. You're suppose to either look in your partner's eyes or over their shoulder, not at your feet."

Maddie giggled, "It reminds me of learning how to drive a clutch. You want to look at your feet when you should be looking at the road." She turned her face up to his and smiled.

"Now, would you like to go inside and when they announce the next waltz, you can dance with Simon?"

"Sure, thanks." She reached up and kissed him slowly on his cheek. He moved his lips to hers and kissed her long and slow, his tongue touching hers. Maddie pulled back.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have encouraged that. I'm sorry." Maddie turned and went inside. Simon was at one of the other patron tables, talking to a donor. Maddie took her seat and looked at Christy who had a very unhappy look on her face. House had stopped to get a drink and then sat down.

"Where were you?" Christy whispered.

"I was dancing the night away."

"Funny Greg. You're not going to tell me are you?"

He reached over and gave her a brief kiss on her lips. Maddie glanced up as Simon joined them at the table. They briefly talked about the donor Simon had just cornered and then the band struck up another waltz. Maddie smiled warmly at Simon, who smiled back. He then looked across the table at Christy, "Would you care to waltz again?"

Christy jumped up, "I'd love to dance." The two stood up and Simon escorted Christy to the dance floor.

Maddie looked up, blushing from the embarrassment of not being asked to dance. House looked at her profile and could see her discomfort.

"Maddie, would you like to dance?"

She smiled and nodded. They took the floor and although, not the most graceful couple on the floor, they managed to do just fine. House kept looking into Maddie's eyes and she kept trying to ignore his stares by staring over his shoulder. Maddie saw Simon watching her and House. Simon and Christy danced flawlessly around the dance floor. She felt a little uncomfortable knowing he didn't want her to be with House. The problem was that she noticed that when House was around, all her common sense went haywire.

Maddie dreaded the ride home, she knew Simon was going to be livid with her and she couldn't blame him. House had intruded into their relationship like a plantar wart on a dancer's foot.

"I do not understand you Maddie. He's insidious and you encourage him."

"He showed me how to waltz in the hall; something you didn't volunteer to do. You didn't bother to ask me to dance, you went right for Christy. He felt sorry for me and he asked me to dance. I did so that I could practice, just in case they played another waltz and you asked me to dance, which you didn't."

Simon shook his head, "I just wish you would avoid him."

"Simon, it's going to be extremely hard to do that. He's not only Rex's father, but he's my partner on the T.Rex find. The T.Rex story is getting hotter as they find more and more of her. It's going to just push us together more often in the near future. I'm sorry, but for Rex's sake, I want to stay on good terms with Greg."

"He's not going to make this relationship an easy one. He's quite a challenging obstacle."

"I know. And if you wanted to bail, I would understand."

"Do you have feelings for him?"

"Of course I do, he gave me Chu-chu and Rex."

"You're avoiding the question."

She looked out the car window and thought, _How do I feel about Greg House? I wish I knew. I wish it was an easy answer, but it isn't. I find myself pulled towards him like one of those huge magnets you find on the pendulums in museums._ "I don't know how I feel, I'm very confused. There are days I hate him and there are days I think I care about him. I just don't know." She turned and saw his look of displeasure, "I'm giving you an honest answer."

"I believe you. I just don't know if I like the answer." He paused and then drew in a breath, "Maddie, marry me?"

Maddie's head snapped so quickly that her hair flew around her head. "What?"

"Marry me. I love you and I'm willing to put up with Greg House. If we were married, it would make me feel like Greg House wasn't in control of our future."

"I just told you that I'm confused about how I feel and you still want to marry me?" she said with shock in her voice.

"Yes, of course. I love you."

"Oh, this isn't what I expected to hear out of your lips." Maddie grimaced. She was quiet. Maddie, put her hands to her head, it felt like it might explode She couldn't think clearly, "Simon, ask me after the holidays. This is too much right now. Okay?"

Maddie could see that Simon wasn't happy with her response, but he nodded anyway. When they arrived back at Maddie's house, Maddie paid the nanny for the overtime. Then she and Simon undressed and got in bed. They didn't make love, they just slipped silentlyoff into sleep, both contemplating their future.

The next morning Simon ran a hand tentatively up her t-shirt and over her breast. Maddie woke up to Simon licking and fondling her breasts. She responded by taking her t-shirt off. He pulled her pajama shorts off, grabbed a condom from the night stand drawer. Maddie put it on Simon who whispered, "Open your legs."

She opened her legs fully and he stabbed into her. He slipped in and out, over and over several times, not looking at her. It didn't take long and he was grunting into her ear. He was done. He rolled off of her and asked, "Did you come too?"

It bothered her that he had to ask. House would have instinctively known that she hadn't come and he would have continued to pleasure her.

"Simon, you'll know when I come, I'm a pretty loud screamer."

Simon sat quickly up on his elbows, "You haven't screamed the whole time we've been together. Haven't you had an orgasm with me? We've been sleeping together for a month."

"Does it matter?"

"Does House give you orgasms?" He asked with the look of an adolescent.

Maddie didn't answer.

Simon answered for her, "Of course he does, I bet he makes you light up like a Christmas tree."

"I'm not going to talk to you about my sex life with Greg. It's over, a thing of the past."

He flung his head back down on the pillow in protest. "I just wanted to know if he gave you orgasms. I just need to know if he's better than me in bed."

Maddie was upset and confused about her feelings, she wanted clarity and thinking about the two men in her life wasn't providing any. She jumped up and ran to the baby's room which now had a crib and other furniture that House had ordered off of the internet. She just needed to get away from both of them for awhile.

Rex was awake, but hadn't started to cry yet for his feeding. Maddie looked down at her son with his big blue eyes looking up, smiling at her. He immediately reminded her of House. She thought of House kissing and nuzzling Rex, laughing at him, talking to him. Maddie felt her chest squeeze tight. She started to get this deep, heavy feeling in her heart. The feeling traveled to her stomach and then through the rest of her body. It made her light headed. It hit her like a tidal wave flowing through her and knocking her backwards. At first she didn't know what it was. And then she nodded her head and walked back to the crib. It was the feeling she had been praying for. Maddie was finally feeling that familiar overwhelming love for her child. She was madly and hopelessly in love with her son. She no longer saw Chu-chu when she saw him. Now she saw Rex, sweet, blue-eyed, lovable Rex.

Maddie was suckling Rex when Simon came into the room. "Are you crying?"

It was fairly obvious that she was, the tears were falling in her lap. She knew he wouldn't understand that the tears had nothing to do with him or his proposal so she didn't respond to the question. She wanted to hold her son all day and not let go of the feeling she had. She wanted Simon to leave, she wanted this time alone with Rex. "I just love my son so much it aches right now. Simon, I have so much to do today. Can I kick you out for now? I have a lot to think about."

Simon was gracious and nodded. He dressed, grabbed his tuxedo from her closet and then kissed her on the cheek. She heard the door close. She nuzzled her son and took him into her bedroom where she blew on his tummy and tickled him. She took his clothes off and checked him over. He was long, long arms, long legs, long torso and those long fingers. He had brown hair, gorgeous rusty brown hair. His nose and ears were more like hers, only just a little bit longer. He was thin, not chubby like a lot of babies. His fingers wrapped around her finger and he gurgled and squealed. He kept watching her with his father's eyes.

"My little boy, my sweet, sweet little Rex. You are so perfect, aren't you? You're healthy, too, aren't you? I love you darling." They played together for awhile until he fell asleep. As Rex slept Maddie got cleaned up. She stepped out of the bathroom to find House laying on the bed playing with Rex and kissing him. House didn't bother to look up. He acted as if he had always been on the bed playing with Rex.

He finally gave her the once over, "What's up with you? You look tired."

"It's been an emotional weekend."

"Simon and you break up?"

"No, he asked me to marry him."

House's face dropped and he involuntarily clenched his teeth. He looked away, composed himself, and turned back to her. "What did you say?"

"I told him to wait until after the holidays to ask me."

His eyes flashed open and his voice angry, "You said yes?"

"No, I haven't said anything."

"But you _want_ to say yes or you would have just said no." he said in an accusatory tone.

"What is it to you?"

House gave an air of nonchalance, "He'll be Rex's Step-Dad, that's all."

"He's good with Rex."

"Well, what if I married Christy?"

Maddie refused to take the bait, "Then Rex would have two doctors to watch over him when he visited."

House threw his arm back on the bed like he was having a childish fit and yelled

"He's not right for you!"

"I've had this conversation before and I'm not having it with you again."

"Marry me."

She stopped and examined him. He put Rex on his chest and held him there. He looked up, "Well?"

"That's not even funny."

He shrugged his shoulders and pursed his lips when she didn't answer, "At least I asked."

"Were you really asking me?" she cocked her head to the side.

His voice was nervous, like he was glad he was being allowed to take it back, "Ah, you had your chance, you blew it." He blew on Rex's hair.

"Men." She sighed and then asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Christmas? You wanted me to watch Rex while you Christmas shopped.

"Oh yeah. I need a tree."

**CHAPTER 40**

**SLOW RESPONSE**

Maddie spent the day Christmas shopping, going to the grocery store and at Home Depot buying some hardware to baby proof the apartment while House looked after Rex. When she got home she enlisted the help of some of her neighbors and carried the Christmas tree inside. House was packed and ready to leave.

"Are you ready for Christmas?" she asked.

House smirked, "You are joking?"

"Come on, you have somewhere to go for Christmas, right?"

"I'm perfectly fine."

"If you want to come over and see Rex open his Christmas gifts, that would be okay with me. You could stay for dinner too."

"Won't Simon have a fit?"

"He's going skiing with some friends. I didn't want to go because of Rex."

"Mmm, I'm not a big Christmas person. My nickname is Scrooge."

"Okay, but I'm having some of my staff over for dinner at 2:00 pm., you're welcome to come over."

Christmas morning at 8 am, Maddie got up and carried the baby downstairs and opened the few gifts that were under the tree. Maddie had cooked some of the meal the day before and just had the bird, potatoes and the stuffing to cook. At 1:00 pm the company arrived, but House didn't show. The meal was eaten, the guests helped with the dishes and the company was gone by the early evening.

Maddie crashed and watched some television. She was starting to nod off when Rex started to howl for his meal. Maddie put him up to her breast and without taking his eyes off of hers, he latched on and began to suckle. The doorbell rang and Maddie went to answer it.

"Who is it?"

"Greg."

She opened up the door, "Greg? What are you doing here?"

"Merry Christmas to you too."

She opened the door and let him in. He came through with his back pack and a gift under his arm. He saw that she was breast feeding, "Hey Rex, you like that? Sweet, huh?"

They went into the living room. She nodded towards the kitchen, "If you want something to drink or eat, get it yourself."

House disappeared into the kitchen and emerged with a plate of leftover turkey, stuffing and rolls and one of Simon's beers. He sat on the chair opposite her and watched as she fed Rex. He ate his dinner and she put the baby down in his portable crib.

"I have his gift." House handed her the large present he had brought with him.

"That's great that you got him a gift." She opened it and laughed. It was a Harley Davidson leather jacket, baby sunglasses, a couple of books, CD's and a Disney DVD about dinosaurs. "Rex thanks you. Your gift is under the tree, over there. Go get it."

House got up and grabbed the present under the tree. He opened it. He immediately knew what it was. He stopped in his tracks and looked straight at Maddie with deep affection. He gave a sweet smile of appreciation as he pulled the mandolin out of its case. House didn't know how to play mandolin, but he had always wanted to learn. He remembered telling Maddie about his desire when they were working in the field on the Hadrosaur. He had only said it in passing. He was amazed as to how well she listened to him.

"Thank you. It's great." He reached for his back pack and pulled out a small box and sat down on the sofa next to her. She opened it and inside was a beautiful dinner ring. It had a sapphire in the middle, surrounded with diamonds.

"Greg, it's stunning, but I can't take this from you. It's too much."

"You have to take it."

"Why?"

"It's been in my family for generations. If I give it to you, then you can give it to Rex, he can inherit it." He saw her hesitation, "Maddie, I'm not having any other children, I'm 48 and have no plans to get anyone else pregnant."

Maddie put it on and smiled up at House. "I've never had a nice piece of jewelry, ever." She reached over and kissed House on the cheek.

He pulled her back and kissed her on the mouth. Maddie didn't protest, she wanted to kiss him. Within seconds he was on top of her and they were taking each other's clothes off. They were naked, touching each other all over. When Maddie came he could see the flushing of her skin as the orgasm rippled through her. He loved it, she was so beautiful, her body sinking into the couch as she screamed out. He didn't put his hand over her this time, he just let her scream with her release.

They laid on the couch, Maddie on her side, House on his back. They were drenched in sweat. House pulled Maddie back into him and kissed her, deeply. She laid her head on his chest.

"Christ Maddie, I don't know what it is about you, but ...sex isn't just sex with you, it's an experience."

She laughed, "I was thinking the same about you." She placed a hand on his chest and stroked his hair. "Well, I have a lot of explaining to do."

"Explaining?"

"To Simon.'

"You're not going to tell him about this are you?"

"I have to!"

"Why?"

"I just cheated on him." Her face was serious and her voice adamant.

"He won't know unless you tell him."

She looked at him with shock on her face, "Doesn't _this_ mean anything to you?"

"What does it mean to you?" he asked. He sat up and looked at her.

"You always answer my questions with questions. I want a straight answer from you... Do you love me?"

He balked, not sure how to respond, he wasn't ready to answer that question. He knew that once he answered the question, there would be other questions. Questions with answers that would change his life. Questions like living together, marriage and love ever-after questions.

"Well," she said jumping up and grabbing her clothes, "Merry Christmas, I guess you've just answered my question. Now if you could please get out. From now on, call before you come. You can see Rex but you have to take him out and then bring him back, no more little family moments so that you can get your family fix and then go back to Princeton. This is so convenient for you, isn't it? You get to come and play man of the house for a day and then you go home. You get the best of both worlds without the crap that comes with the day to day burden of being a parent or a partner. I'm not going to stop you from seeing Rex, but you don't get _me_ in the bargain. Get out."

"You asked a loaded question. You expect me to be able to answer that type of question without having a chance to think it through. That's not fair, at least I didn't say, no." he started putting on his clothes and then his jacket. He grabbed his mandolin, kissed Rex and headed for the door.

"Oh grow up. Get out now."

After he left, Maddie sat down and cried. Her hopes at starting a new life and being happy were fading fast.

**CHAPTER 41 **

**NOTHING TO SAY**

"So, you said nothing, you just let the question hang in the air. Damn it House, silence is as good as a no. What were you thinking?" Wilson took a bite of his hamburger while House grabbed a fry off his plate. "You should at least have said, I feel lots of things about you Maddie, but it's hard for me to sort them right now. But silence is as good as a no."

"Silence is just silence. It allows one to think." House looked around the hotel café. He could see the Washington monument and the Smithsonian from where he sat.

Wilson exhaled, "Yeah, and she's thinking, if he has to think about whether he loves me, then he doesn't."

"That's crap. It may just be that I'm thinking ahead. If I had said that I loved her, which I'm not admitting, then she'd asked me, "What are you going to do about it?'" Then I have to come up with answers to questions I need to think about."

"Well, I doubt you'll get that chance, you've just screwed the pooch." Wilson said.

"Really?" House asked earnestly.

"Really." Wilson paused, "What time are we leaving?"

"7:00 pm. They asked us to be there by 7:30 pm, the awards are at 8:00 pm. Did you bring Ruth down?"

"Yes, I brought Ruth. I didn't think you'd mind; she gets along well with Christy. Why did you bring Christy? I mean, if you want to send home a message to Maddie that you don't love her, then taking Christy tonight to the awards is a good way to get that message across."

"Doesn't matter, does it? Like you said, it was a long shot that she'd give me a second chance anyway."

"Alright, it's your funeral." They left the money on the table for the waitress and walked out of the café. The entered into the hotel lobby where they took the elevator to their respective floors to prepare for the evening.

Maddie was in a separate wing of the hotel putting on her thigh high stockings, her thinnest bikini panties and matching strapless bra. Tonight, Christy wouldn't show her up; Maddie was going to rub House's nose in his loss. She had gone out and bought the sexiest dress that fit her. It was a beautiful satin, champagne colored dress. It was strapless and wrapped at her waist, exposing her left leg up to her mid-thigh. The dress gave her the perfect hour-glass look and her breasts rode high and full in her push-up bra. She had her hair and makeup done by a professional at the hotel. She looked glamorous and stunning.

When Simon came into the hotel room and saw Maddie, he tried to keep it together, but she looked so sensuous and lovely in her dress that a huge, lustful grin ripped across his face. He shook his head. "My God Maddie, you look phenomenal. You're beautiful, gorgeous. I would make love to you if we weren't late already. Shall we go?"

Maddie nodded and thought to herself, Greg would have jumped me. Maddie put on a velvet cape, gloves and then they left. It was 7:45 pm.

The American Paleontologist New Year Eve's Awards and Dance was being held at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. House, Wilson, Christy and Ruth entered the Smithsonian and were immediately informed that their table was the one at the very front nearest to the podium. They all gathered at the front table where their placards were. Most of the crowd were milling around the dinosaur fossil displays. House looked at the T. Rex on display. He shivered, they truly were monstrous looking creatures. The skull itself was five feet long. He turned back towards the podium and saw that at the front, by the large windows, was a large digital screen, several chairs and a table with a computer.

Christy turned to House with her arms crossed, "Who's sitting on the other side of you?"

House looked at the placard, "Dr. Maddie Doyle." He smiled.

"We're going to change places with Wilson and Ruth." she announced.

"I don't think so. I like sitting next to the mother of my son."

Wilson winced at House's refusal to move. Before Christy could say anything, they were approached by an ordinary looking woman in her fifties, "Dr. House?"

House nodded.

"Could you tell me where Dr. Doyle is?"

"I have no idea."

"I'm Dr. Roberta Johnson, the Carnegie Collection." She shook his hand.

"Greg House, the Barbie Collection." House shook her hand.

She looked confused, "You'll need to come up to the podium with me to walk through the agenda." House got up and went to the podium with Dr. Johnson. She was cornered by one of the caterers and turned her attention away from House.

House turned around just in time to see Maddie at the back checking her black velvet cape. He watched as she removed it. Wilson followed House's gaze and saw that Maddie had arrived. She turned in her new dress and started towards the podium. House put his hand over his mouth and chuckled. Maddie looked like a Goddess floating through the tables towards him. Christy turned and saw her. Christy's jaw dropped and her lips slammed tight, her eyes narrowed as she watched her target slide by.

Maddie approached House who smiled lustily and said, "Maddie, I want to F#ck you right here, you're so damn beautiful and sexy."

Dr. Johnson overheard House and gave him a look of utter shock. Maddie turned red and blurted out, "He's just joking. It's just a joke between us."

"No it isn't, if you'd say yes, I'd take you right here." House was serious, he wanted her more than anything.

"I assure you Dr. Johnson, Dr. House is joking. He's not my boyfriend, Dr. Hodgson is my boyfriend."

"But Maddie and I have a very smart and handsome son together." House pointed out to Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson shook her head and said, "Uh, Dr. Doyle, your presentation is in this file on the computer. Dr. House, you'll be sitting down on that chair until they call you up to accept the award."

When Dr. Johnson was through, they walked back to their table and took their seats. House started running his hand up Maddie's leg. She jumped up, "Greg, stop this. Keep your hands to yourself."

When Simon realized that House must be touching Maddie, he jumped up and lunged unsuccessfully at House who laughed at him. Maddie stopped Simon and just as they were sitting down again, House and Maddie were introduced and called to the podium. House went up and sat down in his designated chair. Maddie went up to the podium and showed slides of Chu-chu's excavation. She was pleased to tell the Paleontologists that 30 per cent of the site had been excavated and they had found 35 per cent of the dinosaur. There was a loud murmur among the crowd. House didn't understand why, but Maddie had to wait for the audience to quiet down. Dr. Townsend came to the podium and gave her the award for best publication of the year. Then they called House up and gave them both an award for best physical discovery of the year.

House and Maddie went back to their seats and listened patiently as the others received their awards. Just as the dance began, House left to get a drink and Maddie went to the bathroom. She entered and saw that one of the stalls was occupied by gold sandaled feet showing just below the stall door. She went to the next one, did her business and opened the door to wash her hands. House was standing in front of the sink, leaning on his cane. His eyes told her that something was up.

"Get going, Payless Shoe Store has silver ones like those on sale." House told the gold sandaled woman who was trying to put on lipstick. She just stared at him. "Get out," he snarled. She left in a hurry.

Maddie turned to the wash basin as House forced the woman to leave. Maddie put soap on her hands, turned and held up her arms at him, "What?? What's so important that you have to corner me in the women's bathroom?"

"I like peeing sitting down so I don't get those nasty yellow rings around the bottom of the toilet." he said.

She just shook her head and started washing her hands.

He smiled at her and then looked her up and down as she applied her lipstick. She finished, put it back in her purse and turned to him defiantly. "Gregory House, what the hell do you want?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, I love you." he smiled, touched her cheek, turned and started to walk out. She grabbed his arm and whipped him around and started beating on his tuxedo.

"You piece of sh!t. You do this to me now?" She was uncontrollably angry, her hair was flying and her fists were flailing. He grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her. He kissed her. She bit his lip, "No!" She pushed away from him. House looked at her, his lip bleeding. She looked wild and out of control. They stood there and stared at each other and then like magnets they snatched each other up. House started kissing her down her neck and breasts. He touched her smooth white skin with his long thin fingers. She held his head and then she pulled him up and their mouths locked. House backed her up onto the makeup counter and unwrapped her dress. As he unzipped his trousers, she wrapped her legs up and around his waist. Maddie was impatient, she wanted him more than ever. She guided him in and let out a little sound of pleasure and pain. He pumped her quickly as he fondled her nipple through the satin of her dress. They heard the bathroom door open and then close quickly. She heard House chuckle into her neck. He looked up at her and then closed his eyes as he felt himself unload with each thrust. He collapsed into her breasts.

He took a minute to catch his breath, then stepped back and zipped up his pants. He put his hands up to his forehead, "Did someone come in?"

"Yep, your date, which means my date probably knows." Maddie slipped off of the counter and wrapped her dress up.

He frowned a little and asked her, "Did I just get you pregnant? Because, I'm pretty good at that."

"I don't think so, I'm using the ring now."

"That's good. We better go out and face our executioners. Have you got a farthing to pay the axeman?"

She straightened his bowtie, "Now what?"

"Maybe we can give them both some money and they'll go away?"

"Simon won't. He's going to want your head and my job."

"Well your job is safe as long as we have Chu-chu to barter with..."

"I'm not so sure about that. You don't realize how much you piss people off Greg."

They walked out of the bathroom and right into Wilson waiting next to the bathroom door. Wilson shook his head at them, "You couldn't wait until you got home? Everyone in there is talking about House and Doyle screwing in the bathroom. Here are your awards and jackets. Now, get out of here. Take the back stairs. Oh, and go to Maddie's room, I just put Christy in a cab back to the hotel. You might find your clothes ripped or burned when you get back House. She looked like Lorraine Bobbitt on steroids."

"Where's Simon?" Maddie asked.

"Simon's pissed, but Simon is the consummate salesman. He's in there patting potential sponsors and donors on the shoulder and shaking hands. I'll direct him to another hotel room. So, what does this mean–you two having sex in bathrooms?"

"It makes it easier to clean up." House said.

"What does this mean?" Maddie asked House.

"Does it mean I have to give up Christy?" He asked back. Maddie hit him across the head. "Joking, just joking."

Maddie stepped in front of House, her finger wagging in his face, "Okay, I'm tired of all this. I'm going to tell you what it means. It means that Friday nights you drive up to Philadelphia and you go home on Sunday. In essence you move in with us on the weekends or nothing, we go our separate ways. We go to court, you get limited custody and I don't have to deal with you in person."

"Uhhh, alright, Maddie. I'll move in. Now let's get going." House looked at Wilson as he took his coat and award, "Thanks."

They took a cab back and during the trip they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. When they got to the room they took each other's clothes off and then climbed into bed. House was playing with her hair, "We have a problem." He stopped fidgeting with her hair, "I've told you how I feel, but you haven't reciprocated." He used his finger and drew a circle in the air between the two of them. "I want to know how you feel about me."

"You are impossible, rude, mean and cranky. But when I saw you with Chu-chu and Rex and the way you talked to me out in the field, I know you're human and lovable. I love you most of the time. Not all the time, but most of the time."

"That's fair."

"I'm really excited. I feel like we're going to be a family." she smiled like an imp.

House hugged her and said, "Why did the audience get noisy when you told them about the dig?"

"It means that we're on track to recover a sizable amount of dinosaur, anywhere from 60-80...we're in Ivan and Sue range. We're going to be wined and dined from here on out."

"What about your job?" he asked.

"He could end my contract or do nothing, or he can make my life hell at work."

They watched the ball fall in Times Square on the television. House stroked her hair, "You know, the Japanese believe that whatever you do on the first day of the year is what you'll do the rest of the year."

"Then how are we going to start the year out?"

House pretended to think about it, "Well, what do you want to do this year? I vote for one of the following: sleep, eat or f#ck."

"We don't f#ck anymore; we make love."

"Excuuuuuuuuuse me." House smiled and started fondling her breast.

"I guess we're opting for making love." Maddie said.

They made love slowly, without urgency, with a connection they hadn't had before. When they were done, they laid side by side with their arms touching, their hips touching, their legs touching. They felt satisfied.

House yawned, "I'm glad that we chose sex over the sleeping...once I've had sex, I can sleep."

Maddie was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. "Greg, before I go to sleep, tell me you love me again."

"No, I don't want to wear it out. You'll just get spoiled." House turned on his side and looked down at her. He was surprised to see that she was already asleep. He stroked her hair, "Maddie, you can't leave me. I'm jumping off a cliff here and I love you." He scooted closer to her and then closed his eyes.

Around 2:30 am, House was disturbed by a light coming into the room from the hotel hallway. He was trying hard to wake up and finally realized that if he could see the hall light, then the door to the room must be open. He saw a shadow. He sat up and grabbed his cane as a weapon, "Who's there?"

Finally, the figure switched on the light, Maddie began to stir. House and Maddie both looked up to see Simon staring at them. House protectively pulled Maddie close to him. Maddie's face showed how confused she was.

"Simon, what do you want?" she asked.

"I just came to get my things." He started towards his suitcase and stopped, "Is this what you want Maddie? Are you sure this misanthrope is what you want in your life? Will he be able to give you what you need, what you want? Come with me."

"Oh Simon, don't be naive. No one can give me what I need or want, but me. I can't help it, I love him. I wanted to love you, I wanted it to be you, but I love him."

House waved his hand away, "Now get your stuff and get out of here, this isn't Burger King and you can't have it your way. "

Simon nodded, went over, got his suitcase, picked it up and left.

When Simon left, Maddie rolled on her back and stared at the ceiling. House kissed her lightly on her lips. He could smell her shampoo, the last lingering notes of her perfume, Amarige and the aroma of her own body. It was sweet and musky and delicious. She crawled over into his arms and he turned off the light. They went back to sleep.

The next morning House lifted the sheet to have a look at her beautiful cream-colored breasts. He nuzzled her neck and then started sucking and nibbling her ear. He touched her body, drawing his hand slowly over her ribs, stomach, abdomen, pubic hair, and then the folds between her legs. She inhaled deeply, feeling sexual sensations over her entire body. He inserted his fingers between the folds; she was warm and wet. He pulled her right leg up and over his shoulder and then penetrated her quickly and forcibly. He pulled out as far as he could without completely coming out of her. He watched as he entered her again. He did the same over and over. The view of what he was doing and her body laying in front of him made House stop his slow screwing and started pumping faster and faster. He was so forceful that her breasts were bobbing up and down like jello. She was letting out short moans as he finally stopped his thrusting and his faced screwed up. He yelled in rhythm with several short thrusts and then he was finished. He took in a deep breath and pulled out of her. It didn't take much for her to come, she moaned as she came, crossing her legs when the sensations became too much to bear.

She let him hold her and rub her body for a few minutes, but she desperately wanted to get out of D.C. House could feel her pulling away from him, rushing him.

"What's happening here? It's men who don't like cuddling."

She gave him a sad and sympathetic look, "My breasts ache, I need to pump and I want to get home. I want to see Rex. Does it sound weird, but I'm excited about us all getting back in Philly together; I've never had a semi-family."

House shook his head, "You do know how pathetic you sound? I've had the intact family–not always so peachy keen."

"Yeah, just try to rain on my parade. I have an umbrella." She jumped up and went to her suitcase, grabbed the pump and brought it back to the bed. When she began pumping she saw the frown on House's face. "What's wrong with you?"

"It's unnatural – watching a machine do what I could do better."

She frowned and narrowed her eyes, "Sorry, but there's something really weird about letting a grown man nurse."

"It's not the nursing, it's the sucking. I do that better."

"Mmmm, yeah you do. But you don't collect the milk to give to Rex."

"I could regurgitate it like a bird when we get home."

"Ugh...disgusting. You don't really find that to be funny? Come on, go back to your room and get your things." She paused, "Oh my God, is Christy in your room?"

"Gee Batgirl, I've been here in your cave, I don't know who's still in mine."

"Well Robin, go see if Batman had enough balls to throw her out for you."

His lip pushed out and he pretended to pout, "You aren't suggesting that Wilson is Batman and I'm the Boy Wonder?"

"Yep. It seems that Wilson is better at solving your problems than you are. Now go face Christy and get rid of her. I'm flying back to Philadelphia in two hours, so I have to get to the airport. Call me when you get home. I'll see you next weekend, now get."

He came over, leaned down and kissed her goodbye. "Have a safe trip."

As he started to walk away, towards the door, she grabbed his arm. He turned to look at her with his eyebrows slightly raised, questioning why he was stopped. "I just wanted to say, I love you. I just wanted you to hear it again. I don't want you to forget it." Maddie said it with an urgency he found endearing.

He yanked her close to him and kissed her. "I like hearing it. Bye." He paused briefly, "I love you too."

The door closed and for the first time in a long time, Maddie felt like she had something to look forward to in her life. She talked to Chu-chu as she packed, _I don't know what's going on Chu-chu, but I've succumbed to the challenge of loving your father. I have a feeling you put us up to this in some mystic way. This may be the stupidest thing I've done, but I give up when it comes to figuring out love. Simon would have been the better bet. He's stable, intelligent, kind, patient and understands my work. Your Dad reminds me of you, always a conundrum. We are the yin and yang of life. He's so damaged, so pessimistic, so cynical. But then, you and I worked well together. Let's hope that translates into my working well with your Dad. I can't promise anything though. I don't know how long this will last Chu-chu. Your dad isn't exactly the easiest guy to get along with. All I know is that when he's around, my life isn't dull. I love you honey. Start praying for us...I think we'll need it. _


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 42**

**CHU-CHU RAISES HER HEAD**

On the first day back to work, Simon called Maddie into his office. Maddie reluctantly stood up and went down the hall.

"Maddie, I do not think we can work together. I had hoped I could, but I've been thinking about it all weekend and I just can't stand the fact that you've picked that Wally over me. I wish I could rise above this, but I can't. Your contract allows me to buy you out at two thirds of the remainder of the contract. I am exercising that option and I promise to provide you with a sterling recommendation.

"But you and I both know this won't look good on my resume, being dismissed this soon. Simon, please don't do this. I'm sure we can work this out."

"Maddie, you have a month to find something else."

When Maddie went back to her office she called House. She wasn't upset until she heard his voice and then she was on the verge of tears. Without House even saying hello, Maddie blurted out, "He's letting me go. He's buying out my contract and I'm out of a job. Christ, what am I going to do?"

"I can't blame him, I just transferred Christy out of my department. Luckily it was Christy who asked to be transferred, saving me from an embarrassing sexual harassment lawsuit. I now have a position open."

"I don't want to hear about the interviews or how nubile the candidates are."

"Cheer up, you're going to have a wad of money and time to find a job."

"But I want this job. I like this job."

"Well, pull out your big guns."

"He's already seen my big guns."

House chuckled, "You moron, I don't mean your breasts. Tell him that if the Academy is one of the top five bids we'll let him have Chu-chu."

"But, can we do that? Are you sure?"

"We have final say and it says that we can accept any of the bids in the top twenty percent. Maddie, it's a T.Rex, not the Shroud of Turin. Hey, if the Academy gets it, then Chu-chu would be near Princeton, Chu-chu would be with you. I'd rather Chu-chu be with you than with anyone else. But tell him you want another contract drawn up, one where he can't buy you out. We'll get my lawyer to look it over."

"You have a lawyer?"

"Yeah, she's pretty good. Let me know how it goes." House hung up.

Maddie heard the unceremonious click. She put the phone down and jumped to her feet. She walked down the hall and into Simon's office.

"Simon, I've just consulted an attorney and although you can buy out my contract, the fact that you're doing it for this reason is actually grounds for a lawsuit. However, Greg and I are willing to make this work and we want to sweeten the pot for you. If the Academy is one of the top three bidders for Chu-chu, we'll agree for her to come here."

Simon was stunned into dead silence. He swivelled in his chair and looked out the window at the park. Seeing her was painful, but she was right. He was pretty sure that his actions did amount to some kind of harassment and he desperately wanted the T. Rex, it would be a big feather in his cap.

"Maddie, you know that your T. Rex is my weak spot. Why do you want to stay in this impossible situation? Seeing you will make my life miserable."

"Simon, let's call a truce. Let's try and ride this out, work together."

"You'll really let us have it if we're in the top three?"

"Greg agrees."

"Alright, we'll try this out."

"Good. I'll try to stay downstairs in the lab as much as possible."

"Do you think that you could move your office down there? And the creche?"

"Sure, I'll make it work."

"Pick up some milk, diapers and tampons -Playtex– on your way down. I have a roast in the oven and potatoes. If you want something to drink with that, you'll have to pick it up too. When do you think you'll get here?" Maddie asked as she talked with the receiver tucked between her head and shoulder. She continued to skin the carrots.

"If I have to do your bidding mistress, then I won't be there until sometime around 6:00 pm. I expect a martini and slippers to be waiting when I walk in. Throw in a few nymphs and I won't moan about having to buy your tampons." House mused.

"Boo hoo. I need a 40 pack so get your butt in gear. Oh and, take care honey, drive safely."

"Ciao." House hung up just in time to see Foreman walk through the door.

"I need your help." Foreman announced.

"Mine? You're the head of your own diagnostics department, why would you need my help – again?"

"Come on House, don't make me beg. I have a patient I need your input on."

House looked up at the air, squinted and then looked at Foreman, "Nope. Not unless you beg and tell me that leaving me was the worst thing you ever did."

"But it wasn't."

"Well, if you don't think it was, then go solve your problem yourself. You were the one who accepted the job. You let Cuddy believe that you had learned whatever there was to learn from me. So, go figure it out."

"House, the guy will die by tomorrow if I don't figure out what's wrong."

House was angry and his voice sounded pissed, "Foreman, you and Cameron have been taking easy cases, ones that you know you can solve so that your statistics look good to Cuddy. It's about time you started solving the hard cases, the ones you were hired to solve, _on your own_. Why should I bail your sses out of the fire?"

Foreman was clearly angry, his nostrils flared and his teeth were clenched "Cuddy told you that you were to assist me whenever I needed it."

"Too bad, I have something important to do."

"What, you have a dying patient?"

"Worse, I have to buy tampons and my girlfriend has PMS. See ya." House picked up his backpack, whisked by Foreman and walked towards the elevator. He took out his cellphone. "Maddie?"

"Yes, pumpkin?" Maddie responded.

"I'm trying to leave, but Foreman just cornered me with a case. I told him no," House got on the elevator, "I suspect that a little woman with black hair and a shrill voice is going to stop me from leaving. I may be late. How badly do you need those tampons?"

"I need the diapers more. But I have enough until tomorrow afternoon. Call me and let me know. Now, in front of all those people around you, I want you to say it." There was a pause, "Come on Greg, say it."

House looked around the full elevator and sighed, "Yeah honey, I got the test back, it's the black syph...you'll have to be tested. Honey, I love you and hope we can work it out." He hung up. Most of the people in the elevator tried to distance themselves from House as he stared blankly ahead.

Maddie giggled and went back to the portable crib to see if Rex was still asleep. He wasn't. He was sitting up in his bed laughing and giggling at the little toy that hung on the side of his portable crib.

"Ewwww...you tink...you tink little boy. Did you take a dump in your diaper?" Maddie picked Rex up and kissed him. She laid him down on the changing mat and proceeded to remove his clothing and diaper, "Gees Louise, you took a big one..." She cleaned him up, changed his clothes and let him nurse a little. Rex was ten months old and incredibly beautiful for a little boy. Most of his features came from his father, but he did have his mother's nose and ears although slightly longer versions of the same. He now laughed and giggled almost all the time. Rex was pushing himself up and walking by holding onto objects. He crawled sometimes, but his favorite mode of transportation was the walk/pull system.

The last eight months had been a relationship by trial and error. After her return in January, Maddie wasn't sure how Simon would handle her being with House. But rather than retaliate, Simon had been kind.

"I know this hasn't been easy on you, Maddie. I only wish you had chosen me. But you didn't and I'm starting to accept that.

Maddie and House had purchased a house together on Ogden Ave in Bensalem, Bucks, about 30 minutes outside of downtown Philadelphia. It was a thirty minute drive from both Princeton and the Academy. Maddie thought the two story clapboard house reminded her of the one she lived in when she was an undergraduate at Berkeley. It had five bedrooms and three full bathrooms. One large bedroom was downstairs and three on the second floor. The fourth bedroom was a studio over the garage where the nanny lived. Maddie hired a nanny, a young woman named Tracey, in her twenties, who was completing online courses at Penn State. Maddie and Tracey got along well. They both were down to earth and worked well together around the house. Rex loved Tracey and she apparently loved him too.

On Fridays, Tracey never knew what to expect. Some Fridays House would get home early and relieve her of her duties, sometimes it would be Maddie. House would grill her about Rex's accomplishments for the week. Tracey didn't know what Maddie saw in House. He was rude, narcissistic, mean, and made jokes at the expense of everyone else. But there was no denying that Rex beamed and lit up the minute he heard his Dad's voice. House was good with his son and to Maddie. Tracey was amazed at how much laughter there was in the house when House was there.

The elevator door opened, House stepped out as he put away his cell phone. He took a few steps towards the front door and saw Lisa Cuddy making a beeline for him. "Where do you think you are going?"

"I need tampons."

She scowled, "You can get tampons later. Get back up there and consult with Foreman."

"No. You gave him his own diagnostics department, even though he was the _worst _diagnostician of the three. Now you live with it. He's suppose to be able to stand on his own two feet."

"I don't care what you think about Foreman, we have a patient that's going to die in a few hours if we don't figure out what's wrong. Now go help him."

"I want more money–lot's more money. If I'm going to have to babysit my team and Foreman's team then I deserve more money and a bigger title. This will be the third time this month I've had to consult with him and bail his butt out of the fire."

"No, no more money."

"Read my contract, it says that I can refuse any case I want provided my department stays in the black. I've been in the black for several years now, I refuse this case. I'm going home to the little woman and baby. Good bye."

"House, don't push me. We both know that your contract doesn't say it in those terms. You can refuse any outside referrals, not internal cases that I assign you."

House stopped and looked at her, "I can consult, but I may not be that innovative. I bet the patient has lupus or sarcoidosis. That will probably be my diagnosis." House made his point He leaned down in her face, "More money."

She threw her hands up and exhaled, "I need to talk to the Board, but I'll ask for a raise. Now get back up there."

House turned around and went back up. He took his cell phone out and dialed Maddie. "I've been forced to take the case. Can you two come and stay with me this weekend?"

"Ugh, I have so much to do around the house." She looked around at her own pile of laundry, the fruit and vegetables from the garden that needed canning and the piles of mail and papers that needed sorting, "Okay, I'll come down tonight, but we all go back hometomorrow afternoon."

"Call me when you get in to town." House closed the phone and put it in his pocket.

Maddie packed a small bag of items for her and Rex, since they already had a lot of stuff at House's apartment, put the pot roast in the refrigerator and drove up to Princeton. Maddie didn't always understand Greg's logic. They had purchased the house and she had moved closer to Princeton so that he could come home each night, but he didn't. He liked being centrally located to the hospital and being alone during the week, so he came home on the weekends. It ticked her off, but when she tried to get him to come home, he would come up with some mythical patient.

When Maddie arrived at House's apartment, she turned on the lights, put some bottles in the refrigerator and cleaned Rex up. Maddie had brought some groceries to make some spaghetti, so she made a batch, including some spicy Italian sausages.

While dinner cooked, she wandered around snooping, pulling out boxes of letters, records, photographs, memorabilia.

House found the case to be interesting and challenging. But, for the first time in his life, if he had to choose between the interesting case or going home to Rex and Maddie, he would have chosen the ankle biter and the dinosaur doctor and that scared him. It wasn't a perfect relationship. He did a lot of yelling, a lot. Maddie did a lot of ignoring. But as soon as he walked through the door, he wanted to find Rex, tickle him and talk to Maddie about their week and enjoy their company. He could feel himself relax around them. Even when he was fighting with Maddie about something, he felt safe. He knew she loved him, warts and all. It was strange to have someone love him like that.

House was waiting for results from the spinal when Wilson came in, "I thought your patient was out the door?"

"She is, I've been roped into working on Foreman's patient."

"Can't Foreman handle it?"

"Apparently not. Chase and I have been given marching orders to stay and help Foreman and Cameron and that nubile nephrologist he has on his staff."

"Why haven't you beefed up your staff again? You have two open slots."

"So far Chase and I have done fine. Who knew that under that hair was a brain?"

"Did you let Maddie know?"

"That Chase has a brain?"

"No, that you have to stay in Princeton." Wilson knew that House went up to Philly every chance he could.

"Yeah. She's going to come down to the apartment."

"Maybe we can go out for lunch tomorrow. I haven't seen Rex in awhile."

"We've been trying to keep him away from you, we don't want him to be a wuss when he grows up." House exhaled from the boredom of waiting for the results. He wasn't bored long. Behind Wilson the office doors opened and in walked Maddie with a stroller full of a squealing baby. As soon as Rex's eyes made contact with House's, his arms went out and he strained to get out of his stroller. Wilson picked up Rex and handed him to House. Rex squealed in delight pumping his arms up and down and then leaning in to kiss his Dad on the lips.

Maddie sat down in the chair, "We got bored so we decided to come in and see you. I brought you some dinner. Jim there's enough for you too. I'll heat it up in the doctor's lounge. You two come with me and you can eat in there."

House and Wilson jumped up and followed Maddie to the lounge. She put the food in the microwave and took out a salad to go with it. Then she unwrapped some garlic bread. The three of them sat down, Maddie gave Rex a cut up banana to eat on his stroller tray.

"This is good Maddie, thanks." Wilson told her.

House just kept eating. He finally looked at her, "Why don't you find a job in Princeton and move here?"

"You mean, move permanently into that one bedroom apartment of yours? No thanks, we've only been together for eight months, I don't want to give up my day job to move in with you. You are both the frying pan and the fire."

House snickered and leaned over, gave her a garlic bread kiss and continued to eat.

"By the way, we need to go up to the site next week. They're very close to announcing how much of the vertebrae they've found and they want us there when the media finds out." Maddie told House as she picked at her salad.

"What does Jack say?"

"This won't mean anything to you, but he thinks they've found 34 vertebrae so far, it's possible they'll find some more. I'm so excited. I'm going to go up next week and work on the site for a month, the Academy is going to give me my two weeks paid vacation and a two week leave of absence."

House's head jerked back. "You're taking Rex away for a month?"

Wilson was amused by this. House was truly upset that he would not have Maddie or Rex for the whole month. House really hated any disruption to his routine.

"Yes, but you can come with us."

House was ambivalent. "Maybe."

Maddie and Rex went back to the apartment and House stayed at the hospital. Early the next morning House and Chase managed to diagnose Foreman's patient with Mycosis Fungoides much to Foreman's embarrassment. House smugly announced the disease and then packed up and left. He flew to his apartment on his motorcycle. When he opened the door he heard noises, a baby crying, water running in the sink, pots banging, the washer going, it was the sounds families make and he loved it.

He walked into the kitchen, threw his backpack down and went over to Rex. Rex immediately stopped crying and reached up for his Dad. House smiled,

"Dude, what is all this crying about? Superdad is here. Want a beer? Let's talk it over–over a beer." He had the smiling Rex in his arms, "Daddy wants one." He pulled a beer from the refrigerator. "You know, when you're older, I'll have to show you how to get the top off a beer when you don't have an opener."

Maddie was cleaning up from the morning meal. "What would you like for breakfast? I'll fix you something and then Rex and I will go back to Philly so you can catch up on your sleep."

"Oh, don't go."

"But if we stay, Rex will want to climb in bed with you and play with you. This way you can get some sleep."

"I still don't want you to go."

"Greg, when you wake up, you can drive down and stay with us in Philly."

"Damn it, I won't sleep if I know it's my day for conjugal visits. You know I sleep better when you're around." It was the truth. When House was with her he was able to get to sleep faster and stay asleep longer.

"Alright, I'll cook breakfast and you go play with T.Rex so that he'll sleep and then we'll see what we can do about the drought on Mt. Gregory."

"Thank you Jesus! I'm prayin' for rain!" House raised his hand in a sign of hallelujah. He took Rex and started nuzzling and tickling him and playing with his toys, making him laugh. Maddie finished up the laundry and cleaning. She brought House a plate of eggs and bacon and then took over entertaining the now very tired and cranky Rex. House was watching a whimpering Rex nurse. The more he nursed, the harder it was for Rex to keep his eyelids open. The baby went down in the portable crib in the living room and House felt things starting to stir in his pants. Before Maddie could even turn around, House was pulling her into him, feeling her breasts and nipples under the t-shirt material. She pushed him back and started undressing him.

He gave her a crazed look, "I've been looking forward to this since Monday. I don't know which is more additive, Vicodin or your body."

She backed down the hall, refusing to let him touch her, exposing her breasts, playing with them herself. She pulled down her pants and then fondled herself under her panties. He watched and as his desire grew, he tried to grab her. She jumped out of his reach and up onto his bed. Maddie slowly removed her panties and threw them on his head. He sniffed them and smiled. He climbed up on the bed and grabbed her ankle, pulling her down. He grabbed the other ankle and spread her legs apart. He could see the pink folds and he immediately went hard. He climbed her like a vine and stabbed between her legs. It felt warm and inviting. She pulled him in with her muscles and then started bucking over and over with him thrusting at the same time. It was manic and exciting. House couldn't hold back, he released all of himself into her, over and over. After House brought Maddie to climax they both fell back and looked at each other.

"I thought you were on your period?" he said.

"Not for a few more days. I just didn't have any tampons."

"When do you and Rex leave for Montana?"

"Wednesday."

"I'll come down and sleep over on Tuesday and take you to the airport."

"Why don't you come with us, honey?" Maddie asked. "I'd like to see more of you. I know Rex would like for you to be around more. I think he misses you during the week."

"A month in the field is torture to me. I'll fly up in a couple of weeks, just when you can't live without my services." He emphasized "services" with a quick fondle of her breast.

House spent the night on Tuesday and drove Maddie and Rex to the airport on Wednesday. He watched as they walked through security, Rex waving bye-bye and Maddie throwing a kiss. House wanted them both to turn around and come back, but they kept going.

**CHAPTER 43**

**A GAMBLE ON WHAT SHE'LL SAY**

He quickly recovered from his sentimental lapse. As he drove home, he was excited by the prospect of having the next few weeks to himself. He had several ideas of how he was going to spend his time alone. Once Maddie left for the site, he knew she would rarely call because the reception was not only iffy out at the site, but she'd get so involved in what she was doing, she'd just plain forget.

The week passed as usual except that House didn't receive his daily phone call from Maddie. On the weekend, House was able to sit and watch television, play piano, pick his guitar and invite Wilson over to watch a Soprano marathon. They ate junk food, smoked cigars and watched the pay for view fight.

Wilson suggested that the next week they go to Atlantic City. House was up for some gambling, something he didn't usually do these days. Supporting a second household had eaten into his spending cash. They checked into Harrahs and went to the casino. While House and Wilson played blackjack they noticed two gorgeous, long-legged twenty-somethings slide up on stools near them. As the night progressed, they teased each other back and forth. The redhead kept patting Wilson on the hand and commenting on his lovely brown eyes while the delicious brunette disagreed and said that House's blue eyes were killers. House and Wilson took their winnings and bought the two a drink and dinner. During the dinner the brunette started to feel House's good thigh and made certain noises that could only be interpreted as wanting to get naked.

"My room is on the 12th floor, why don't we slip up there after dinner?" The brunette had her hand firmly on House's package and was rubbing slowly and purposefully. House had to admit he was responding to her not so subtle suggestion.

House had a hard time concentrating on the conversation, but he managed to pull out his wallet, pay for the dinner, look at this woman who would give Angelina Jolie a run for her money and hand her a photo. It was a JC Penney photo taken of Maddie holding Rex, both smiling and dressed in similar outfits. "Sure, we can go up to your room, but first I need to call her, see if she and my son mind me bonking you while they're away," House pulled out his cell phone and started to dial. Wilson chuckled. He never expected House to turn down a gorgeous Brunette.

The phone rang, Maddie was laying down in the RV watching a DVD, Rex asleep. The caller i.d. said, 'Gregory House.' Maddie was tired from the long hours in the sun, but she was happy to see Greg calling. "Hi honey." She said lazily.

"Hi back. Maddie, I'm sitting here in Atlantic City with a gorgeous brunette who wants to screw me. I told her that I couldn't do it unless you gave me permission first."

"Are you joking? Are you really in Atlantic City with a brunette?"

"I'm in Atlantic City with Wilson and we met up with two lovely ladies at the blackjack table..."

Maddie was tired and knew instinctively that if House had wanted to screw the woman, he wouldn't be calling her, "Well, just wear protection and call her Maddie. Hey, guess what? Rex said 'Da-da' today. I tried to call you so he could say it to you, but you didn't answer."

House was genuinely pleased and now wished he hadn't played the brunette game with Maddie, "Really, Da-da? The boy is a genius. How's it going up there?'

"I can't wait for you to get up here...it's better than we thought. They've uncovered a substantial amount of the T-Rex this week. You're going to be shocked. I miss you. Do you miss us?"

"Like a hernia. Yeah, I guess I miss the rugrat...and occasionally you." There was a pause, "You don't have to worry about the bimbo. I'll see you soon."

"I love you Greg."

"I love you too." He sighed and hung up, looked at the pissed off brunette and said, "I don't think she bought it. I'm afraid I'll have to pass."

The two women went back to the casino leaving Wilson and House alone at the bar. "I'm surprised House. I thought you'd take her up on it."

"Tempting, but you have to admit Maddie is unlikely to let me get away with it."

"If I had Maddie and Rex, I wouldn't be tempting fate either. You're the recepient of a minor miracle. You're one lucky SOB."

"Yeah, I just wish I was as lucky at the black jack table."

Being on his own got old quickly. House was surprised at how much he missed his weekends with Maddie and Rex. He missed walking in and seeing Rex grin from ear to ear when he heard House's voice. At night, after work House would lay on the sofa and think about them. He touched his chest where Rex would fall asleep while he read his journals. He smiled when he thought of the first time he picked up one of his New England Journal of Medicine and it was smeared with jam and baby fingerprints. House had not been so enchanted with his son that morning. But now it seemed so stupid to be so upset over something so trivial. House's memories seemed so real to him. He could even smell the baby powder and milk and fabric softener that would waft up as Rex lay on his chest. House dreamed of seeing Maddie and Rex playing together, Rex squealing and trying to grab Maddie's hair. He missed Maddie. He missed the smell of her shampoo, the smoothness of her hips, her thighs, the softness of her abdomen, her wiry arms and hands, and how content he felt around her.

**CHAPTER 44**

**DADDY DEAREST**

By the time House boarded the 727 to Billings, Montana, he was more than ready to bring Maddie and Rex home. He arrived at the small airport and walked down the corridor to see the two of them waiting just beyond security; Maddie with Rex by her side. She held up a hand to stop him when he got about ten feet away.

"Hold up, stay there." She looked down at Rex, "Go see Daddy. Go on sweetie, go see Daddy."

Rex squealed and grinned, holding his arms out straight to balance his little diaper clad body, he took a step, then another, then another and then plop, sat down on his buffered butt. House smiled and said, "Just like his old man, a little wobbly on his feet." He picked up Rex, "Dude, that was bitchin' ...you stuck that primo. I think you're ready for Toddler Xtreme Sports." He turned to Maddie, "When did he start walking?"

"The night you were screwing the hooker in Atlantic City."

"I wish." He pulled her into him and then grabbed her butt. "You better make up for my loss in Atlantic City. She and Angelina Jolie could have been twins."

"Oh, I bet I can give you a flush." They found his luggage and made their way out of the parking lot. On the way to Jordan, House kept turning around and making faces at Rex. He turned to Maddie and they smiled warmly at each other. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He kissed hers.

"I missed you." He said.

"You too. National Geographic is up here and so are several museum curators. They all want Chu-chu. Jack says he thinks she'll be more than Ivan but slightly less than Sue. We're looking at about 70-75. Greg, that means you and I will split between $2-5 million dollars."

"Cool." House responded.

"What are you going to do with your share?" She asked.

"I'm investing in the holy trinity, sex, drugs and rock 'n roll." He turned and looked at her. He saw that she wasn't buying it. "I figure I make enough money. I'll buy a car and then put the rest away for Rex and my retirement home in Tahiti. What about you?"

"I think I'll start a trust fund for Rex, maybe go to Africa on a dig when my contract at the Academy expires."

House jerked around to look at her. "Africa?" He was shaking his head violently.

"Yeah, Africa, they're looking at a new site in the Karoo fossil bed. I'd like to search for a Gorgonopsid. I'm sure I can pick up a nice size grant and if I can pay for my own expenses, I can control all facets of the dig."

"How long would you be gone?"

"Two-three years. It depends, if I find something important, it could be longer. But it would be my dig, under my control." She watched his face turn to anger and frustration.

"No, you can't...you can't go...you can't take Rex to Africa for two or three years."

Maddie was glad that House was upset, that he didn't want them to go. On the other hand, she was angry that he would try to keep her from following her dream, "Greg, you could come with us. If not, I'd come back for several months each year."

"No. I can't find jobs like you. You know my job history, not many people are going to take a chance on me. You can't go. This dinosaur wasn't suppose to separate us; it was suppose to make our lives easier."

"You know, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We don't know how much money we'll get or what will happen. Who knows what I'll do when my contract is up. I'm not going to fight with you about it right now. I'm just thinking about what I _might_ do. Who knows. We're a long way away from knowing whether Chu-chu will bring in the really big dollars."

Maddie wanted to say something about their arrangement, that it seemed too casual to her. That if he wanted to have a say over what happened to the family, he needed to make a real commitment. He needed to move in on a permanent basis and maybe marry her. But she said nothing. No sense pushing him when there was no reason to do so yet. Until she knew what was going to happen with Chu-chu and her current job, whether Simon would even renew her contract, there was no reason to push House into a corner. He didn't respond well to being pushed into something new.

House was clearly disturbed by the prospect that Maddie could even think about leaving. _The crappy thing about relationships is that there's another individual who has their own agenda. I need to control this, make sure she doesn't run off with Rex. But how? What would keep her with me? I don't know. I can't think of a single reason why I would stay with me except that I'm a good father...Rex and I have a good relationship. Doesn't she see that?_ He finally broke the silence, "Why would you want to take Rex away from me?"

Maddie looked over at him. _Uh-oh, now he's fixated on me leaving. I should never have said anything._ "Greg, you have a great weekend relationship with your son. And _if _I went to Africa, I'd send him home to spend time with you. He wouldn't forget you, and, even better, you'd get him all to yourself to screw him up, all by yourself." She tried to be funny, but he was still upset.

"This isn't funny Maddie, three years? What happens to us? And then when you return, what then?"

"Greg, families spend time apart all the time. Look at the guys in Iraq. We'll make it work. You'll come to Africa and I'll come home on vacation. We'll be fine. Besides, I don't know what I'm going to do. I have a feeling that at the end of next year, Simon will not be renewing my contract. I have to be realistic. If I headed up my own dig over in Africa, it would go a long way to cementing my reputation in my field. I could write my ticket just about anywhere." Maddie took a deep breath and tried to change the subject, "Did you see that the Dallas Museum of Natural History want to fly us to Dallas to wine and dine us?"

"No I haven't seen that invitation, just the one from Seattle offering a free trip there to see there hands-on science exposition. Any thoughts on where Chu-chu should go?"

"I still would like for her to be a part of the Academy, even if I'm not there. She would be close to you and you could take Rex to see her if I'm working somewhere else."

"You really think Simon will let you go?"

"I do. He's being very patient and tolerant, but I can tell how hard it is on him. He truly did fall in love with me. Unless he finds someone between now and the end of next year, I don't see him wanting to prolong his agony."

"Does the Board know this?"

"I think so. But they love Simon. He's done a lot for the Academy. I'm doing well, getting some nice sized grants, but their loyalty will be to Simon. Paleontologists are easier to replace than a museum director as good as Simon."

"If you don't go to Africa, what's jobs are there for Paleontologists on the east coast?"

"The Smithsonian, teaching at Harvard, Yale, New York. Working in the Natural History museums in New York, Atlanta, Boston, the Carnegie Collection and there are a couple of minor digs in New Jersey. But none of these positions seem realistic. Most of the posts are filled with competent people who are nowhere near retirement. I could teach geology, natural sciences and paleobiology at any University, but it wouldn't be directly related to my current career or what I want to do. It would be like putting you in a basement and have you review slides all day while everyone else did the diagnosing."

House was feeling more and more out of control. _Why did I fall for a Paleontologist? Why not a nurse or a janitor? Someone who could work anywhere. I need to think...get control._

Maddie was nervous, she could see House thinking, thinking hard about what she said. It always worried her when House went off into his own thought process. It meant he was either solving a problem or creating one. Maddie suspected the later.

When they arrived in Jordan they went to the café for dinner. All of the dig crew were there to greet House, making him feel like a minor celebrity. Jack pumped his hand and slapped him on his back as did Kevin. Jade kissed him squarely on the mouth. "I tell you House, leave Maddie and make me your concubine."

House chuckled, "I might just do that Jade."

They ate dinner and talked for another hour about the recovery of Chu-chu. Maddie put a blanket up over her breast and fed Rex. She changed him and tried to hold onto him while House and Jack talked about the site. But Rex wanted desperately to go to House. He finally wiggled out of Maddie's arms and went to House who laughed at the tottering toddler. He picked him up and held him while he continued the conversation. Maddie observed her son nod off in his father's arms. It made her feel nervous about the future. She wondered if her little family could survive?

When they got back to the hotel, Maddie went to make a phone call to the Academy to check in about the new gas chromatograph that had been scheduled to arrive, but her cell was dead. She reached over and grabbed House's. The screen flashed, "One Missed Call - Stacey Warner."

Maddie's heart started to beat faster. She checked his "Calls Received" and "Calls Made," there were several calls made to and received from Stacey Warner over the last few weeks. Maddie wasn't sure what to say to House or what to ask him? Why was he spending so much time talking to Stacey Warner? It made her feel inadequate.

The next few days were spent at the site with the National Geographic crew. Maddie and House worked the site with everyone else. House was stunned when he saw the excavation; it had grown into this massive and well organized science project. The scientists and volunteers were getting down to the nitty gritty; paint brushes and hand picks were out. National Geographic had hired a plane to fly over and take aerials and they let Maddie and House go along. From the air they could plainly see the massive skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex outlined in the hard crust of the Montana badlands. Maddie squeezed House's hand in excitement.

"Look Greg, there's the Hadrosaur they found next to it. My God look at Chu-chu! The Rex's skull is in perfect shape. Jack's going to jacket it next week to protect it this winter. My God, it's beautiful. He's right. Chu-chu has to be at least 65 complete, probably more. Wow. Wow!" She was shaking her head in amazement. House loved how alive and vibrant she looked. He pulled her chin over and gave her a kiss. She pulled him back and gave him another one, "Greg, I love you."

"I love you too Maddie. Don't leave me."

Maddie's face crashed. "Oh, Greg. I wouldn't be leaving you. I'd just be away for awhile. I'd come back...if you wanted me. Besides, I probably wouldn't go anyway. Why do you fixate on things?"

"Don't go. I don't want you to go."

"Let's not even think about it for now. Let's just enjoy this for now. Okay?"

House gave her a faint smile and nodded. He kissed her lightly on her lips and then looked back at the dig. Maddie saw something from the air that she hadn't noticed before, she wasn't sure what it was, but she kept it to herself for now.

National Geographic interviewed both House and Maddie and took photos of them with Rex in House's lap, smiling and clapping for the camera. In between photos, Maddie had to wipe the drool from her son's happy little face. The media ate up the fact that Rex's name was T.Rex. It was a great soft piece for the news. That night in the hotel, Maddie watched television and laughed at her son, clothed in his T. Rex t-shirt, drooling and giggling for the camera. Rex's name seem to make more of a splash than the incredible find itself.

House turned the channel to CNN and saw a similar piece. Only this one went into the history of why the dinosaur had been named Chu-chu, even so far as showing a photo of Chu-chu from second grade. House realized that if it was on CNN then the story was going world wide and that meant he could no longer avoid the inevitable.

"Crap." he murmured.

Maddie turned around to him as she sat on the bed drying her hair with a towel. "What?"

"My parents are going to see this. They're going to find out about Rex. My Mom is going to be pissed at me...and hurt."

Maddie jumped off the bed, her eyes wide open and her mouth gaping in shock, "You never told your parents about Rex? About me?"

He didn't say anything.

"I thought they just didn't care or had some hangup because he was born out of wedlock. I didn't ask you because you're so uptight about your Dad. But how could you not tell your parents that they have a grandson? Or a granddaughter? Greg...you not only deprived them, but you deprived Rex. How selfish of you."

He was angry at her and himself, "It meant my Dad would want to come out and teach his grandson how to be a man, you know, shotguns, forced hikes and ice baths...I didn't want him near him."

Maddie was really angry, incredibly angry. House could tell she was having a hard time containing her voice, "You could have at least asked me what I wanted, or thought about it. You love your Mom, don't you want her to know her grandson? We aren't really a family are we? We're just two people who occasionally live together on the weekend. You don't share the really important things, you can't share because then you feel out of control." She put a fist on her hip, "Sometimes you can be such a jerk. You don't deserve us."

House should have kept his mouth shut, but he didn't, 'What makes you think you have the right to make decisions about my parents?"

"It's not about your parents, it's about our son and what's right for him. You didn't even ask my opinion. You chose to cut him off from them without even asking what I thought."

"Maybe because I trust my opinion over yours. I've lived with them, remember?"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't kept me a secret and allowed me to meet them, I'd understand all of this. But I was never good enough to parade out for them was I? Stacey was, wasn't she? I bet she got along well with your folks."

He didn't look at her.

"Oh my God! I'm right. Stacey was good enough, important enough to meet your parents, but not me...not your son? You are ... oh...I'm getting another room. I can't be around you tonight."

House sighed, "Maddie, you're not a shrink, you have no idea why I chose to keep them...my Dad, out of my life. I'd love for you to meet my Mom, but she comes joined at the hip with him. And I can't..."

"OH GOD. Stop punishing yourself and your Dad. You've got to come to terms with the fact that he's just a human being who made some really stupid mistakes when it came to you...probably the same stupid mistakes his father made."

"You forgive your father for abandoning you?"

"Of course I have, a long time ago. It doesn't mean I approve of it or forget it, it just means that I accept that he was human and didn't have the tools to deal with the life he was dealt. What good would it do for me to hang on to those feelings?"

House's cell phone rang and he looked down at the caller I.D., closed his eyes and shook his head. He showed it to Maddie, 'House, John" scrolled across the screen. "Damn, that was quick."

"Answer it Greg. If you want to keep this family in tact, answer it."

Maddie should have known better. Telling Greg House to do something when he didn't want to was like trying to tell a thirteen year old to not talk back. House held it out in front of her face, but refused to answer it. The call went to voicemail. Maddie started crying.

When House saw her little face ball up in tears he felt like crap. "Maddie," he said softly.

"No, no, Greg. Don't say anything. What I think or what I want will always take second seat to your desires and wishes. This whole argument is about trust. I don't know if you're committed to us. I know about Stacey. I know that you've been talking to her. I saw a missed call on your cell phone." She paused, waited for him to explain the calls. House said nothing, showed no change in his emotion, "I told you before, when I feel abandoned I start thinking of ways to protect myself. You can't trust me, so you don't tell me about your folks, or Stacey. It boils down to the fact that you don't trust that I'll be there for you. We're together, but we aren't. I can't take this." There was silence and then Maddie's lip started to quiver, "It's easier for you to get another room than for me to pack up all of our stuff, could you do me a favor and get another room?"

"I'm staying with you and Rex. We'll talk this through." He rubbed his forehead, "I'm sorry. Really."

Maddie put on a t-shirt, sweat pants and flip flops. She grabbed her wallet and went down to see Tony at the front desk. She got the keys to another room a floor up and then she went back upstairs. House was laying on the bed with Rex on his chest. Maddie exhaled loudly, knowing that House wasn't going to let her take Rex without a fight. She started picking up everything. Most of their things had been spread out over the room from living in it for the last two weeks. She took a couple of trips up to the next floor and put her things in the new room.

When she came back in, House had his lips pulled tightly together and was glaring at her. "Maddie, stop this and sit down. Talk to me."

"Give me Rex. I'm done talking today. The more we talk, the further we're getting apart from each other. I need a time out."

"You don't get Rex unless you talk to me."

She shot him a look of disgust, "I knew you'd use Rex as a pawn in our disagreement. That's a cheap shot, even for you."

He looked guilty, "It's just that I want you to talk to me. I'll hand him to you, but you have to promise to listen to what I have to say."

"Alright, you can say what you want to say, but then I get to say what I want to say and that's it for tonight...no more...we give it a rest."

House nodded.

Maddie nodded and held out her hands. House gingerly handed her Rex. She balanced him on her hip. "Okay, say what you have to say."

"I want to share things with you, but if I do, I give up my control." His voice became almost inaudible, "My Dad had all the control." He looked up at her and sighed, "I didn't want them to know about Rex because then they'd see I was happy and then he'd try to take credit for it. Or at least try to convince everyone that what he did hadn't made its mark on me." He shifted and ran a hand through his hair, "I push, I push because there's a part of me that believes that once you really know me, you'll leave me. I'm afraid you'll take Rex and as he gets older he won't love me either.

Maddie waited and then said, "Why are you talking to Stacey?"

He didn't want to admit that he had called her because he could tell her things he couldn't tell others, including Maddie. Lately, he had been sharing his fears over being a father, trying to commit to Maddie, his fear of loving a woman so deeply again. House had wanted to know where they went wrong, what Stacey thought about his ability to love. Stacey had been reluctant to talk to him, especially when she found out that he was a father, twice over; the first time when he was still with her. But Stacey wanted answers too. Answers that only talking to House could supply.

House had to admit that Maddie was right. He had been holding back. He had been sharing his fears with Stacey, not Maddie, because it was safe. Stacey knew him but no longer had any reason to expect anything from him. She listened to his fears and he listened to hers. He would be lying if he were to say that there wasn't some sense of deep seated love that passed through them when they talked, but he also knew that the love he felt for Maddie, although different from what he felt for Stacey, was just as rich, even deeper because of the bond they shared with Rex. But how could he explain this to Maddie without validating her worst fears?

When House said nothing, Maddie winced and shook her head in sorrow, "I see, you aren't going to tell me are you? Greg. I have my own issues. I've forgiven my Dad for abandoning me and my mother for dying, but it doesn't mean that it didn't shape who I am. I feel you push me away and it feels like I'm being abandoned. When I feel like that, I circle the wagons and figure out how best to protect myself. If it means planning my next career move, relocation, or leaving bad memories behind, I do it. I'm a survivor and right now, I feel like you're test is to see how little you have to commit to me before I pick up and run. Honey, unconditional love doesn't mean unconditional commitment. I will always love you, issues or no issues, damaged or not damaged. But that doesn't mean that I stay and become your victim. I'm not going to be the mouse that the cat bats around until it's finally dead. I love you Greg, but you have to figure out whether or not you can meet some of my needs. I need more of you and, to be honest, I don't know if you can give more. You need to keep so much of yourself to yourself that there's only bits and pieces left for the people who love you. Think about it. Ask yourself if you're ready to let me share all of you. In the meantime, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

**CHAPTER 45 **

**THE WISHBONE**

I turned and walked out the door, leaving House sitting on the side of the bed thinking. I knew I was in for a crappy night. I tossed and turned and worried. I tried to imagine doing to Rex the things Greg's father had done to him as a little boy.

I saw me locking Rex outside, in the dark, alone, as punishment for some minor infringement. Then I imagined myself dumping ice into a bath while Rex sat in the water, freezing, simply because he disobeyed an order. Each time I tried to imagine my son going through this my heart ached and I became angry. I couldn't get my mind around it. It must have seemed so cruel and unbearable to a small child. He must have felt worthless, unlovable. Especially if his mother didn't stand up for him. How could his mother have allowed it to happen? I wouldn't, I couldn't. But then, his mother and father were both products of a different generation. Still, I blamed them _both_.

I looked over at Rex in his crib and he was sleeping so soundly. He was safe. He was rarely at the other end of a harsh word from either House or myself. I had swatted his hand twice, both times when he was in imminent danger of either burning himself or pulling something off the table onto his head. I even felt guilty for doing that.

I understood why Greg felt the need to test me, test anyone. Why he believed humanity sucked and there was no God. As I lay in my bed, I felt this desire to just hold him, to protect him, make him safe. I felt a need to make safe the man who made me feel safe. What a strange world we create.

I needed sleep. I don't handle emotional issues well when I'm tired. I knew we had a lot to chew on and a lot to decide. But I needed sleep after a long day in the field, taking care of a baby and fighting with Greg. I wanted to take a sleeping pill or drink a glass of wine, but I had Rex and I needed to be able to respond to him. I grabbed Rex, went down to House's room, used my card, opened the door, put him in bed with his Dad, grabbed the Vicodin off the side table, split one in half and knocked it back and retired to my room. Within fifteen minutes I was asleep.

There was a banging on my door the next morning and I could hear Rex crying his lungs out, "Hey, let us in, this kid wants his mommy's big beautiful bountiful breast...let us in."

I could hardly lift my head. Finally I managed to cross the room and open the door knob. House burst in with Rex, tears streaming down his red, pouty face. House looked at me, "So you're going down that slippery slope. Half a pill tonight, a whole one tomorrow, two the next...soon you'll be going on to Oxycontin."

"Just give it a rest. I was wired and couldn't sleep. I needed sleep and I figured you could watch the little piss-pot there."

"Yeah, imagine the shock when at 2 am I got a kick in my ribs and didn't know who or what was in bed with me. Thank God I got a whiff of butt paste or I would have knocked him out of bed. Come on, I've fed him his solids, but he's upset that you weren't there when he woke up...'mama...mama...mama'...I thought he'd never stop saying that. You better stick a breast in his mouth or he's going to wake the entire hotel."

I sighed. I was still groggy, "Give him to me." I lifted my t-shirt and he immediately reached up and grabbed my breast and started to feed. His wails now became sniffles inbetween the suckling. I shook my head and tried to calm him, "I just needed a little sleep pumpkin."

House plopped down in the chair and ottoman, sliding down into an almost reclining position. "Are we back at the site today?"

"Yeah, I have something I need to check out, something I saw yesterday in the air. It's probably nothing, but I need to check it out quickly."

"Are you going to share?"

"I think I may have..." House's cell phone rang. He held up a finger to tell me to give him a minute.

He pressed the talk button, "Hi Mom. Fine and you?" Oh good, did they arrive in time for your birthday? Good. Yeah, I figured you and Dad saw that." There was a long pause, "No, it's all true. I'm sorry. I should have told you." There was more silence and I could see the little boy in House wanting to please him mother and knowing he had been bad, "I'm sorry. It happened rather quickly. She died a short time after I found out about her. Maddie and I hadn't kept in touch, I didn't know about her."

During the silences I felt nervous for House. I could see him slipping into that role we all play with our parents no matter how old we get. He was an adult, but there was that vulnerable child, still susceptible to his mother's emotions. "Yeah, I'd like you to meet him. We're here for another week or so and then back to Princeton. Yeah, if you want. Let me ask Maddie if she's got any trips planned." He put his hand over the receiver, "My parents want to come out in November to meet you and Rex. Any objections?"I shook my head no. Inside I was nervous. House claimed not to care what they thought, but his voice sounded very much like someone who wanted to appease someone.

"Okay, call me when you have all the arrangements made. Maddie lives half way between Philadelphia and Princeton, so you can arrange to fly into Philly if it's cheaper. No Mom, I really don't want to...I'll see him when he gets here. No Mom...Mom? Hello Dad." I watched House's demeanor change immediately into a defiant, angry human who could barely muster the necessary pleasantries. "Yes, it was wrong of me. I know it was a bad thing to do. Yes, I understand. No, I promise that you will get to meet your grandson. Yes sir. Goodbye." House hung up the phone and looked at me as if to say, "I told you so."

I gave him a half smile of understanding. "So they want to meet us?"

"My mother is beside herself. Apparently, they have Tivo'd the CNN story and she's been watching it over and over. She says he's the spitting image of me as a baby. She's bringing photo albums to prove it. My father is more concerned with my lapse of judgment for not telling them than with meeting his grandson. But that's my Dad."

"They will be staying at the house, right?"

"_No way_."

"Greg, your parents deserve a chance to get to know Rex ...and me. Are you afraid they won't like me as much as they liked Stacey?"

"My mother luke warm over Stacey. My Dad liked her. Stacey reminded my mother too much of her cousin; the cousin who always folded under emotional pressure. When I lost the use of my leg, she predicted that Stacey would leave under the guilt and the weight of my depression. She was right. It was mainly Wilson who helped patch me up. Stacey felt too responsible for it."

"I just assumed that they must have loved her."

"No, but then, they only met her once before the operation and then right after it."

I looked at him and he seemed drained. "Come on, let's get ready to go out in the field." I took Rex over to Eileen's daycare. She took him and immediately he started crying and reaching out for us, breaking our hearts. But Eileen assured us that once we were out of sight, Rex would stop crying and start playing. I watched through the window as my sons tears dried up automatically and he started to play with the blocks in front of him . I shook my head, "What a scam artist!" House chuckled too.

We drove out to the site and I immediately climbed the ridge and headed for the rock outcrop I had seen from the sky. House followed me since he really didn't know what else to do. The rock was just south of Chu-chu, in a shallow gulley. Any rains that came through the area would wash through Chu-chu towards this rock. I pointed out what appeared to me, to be a bone.

"You saw that from the sky?" House asked.

"Yep. It actually glistened which caught my eye." We were a good thirty feet from the most southern point of Chu-chu. We started with a pick axe and loosened the areas around the bone. Within minutes I knew it was a fossil, but I wasn't sure what it was. House just kept excavating as I kept trying to figure out what we had.

Jack came over, "Maddie, how'd you find that?"

"When we were taking the aerials yesterday. Jack, what do you think it is?"

"I don't know yet, not enough of it uncovered. I don't know if it's part of Chu-chu or something new. Do you want me to send help over?"

"Yeah, maybe a couple of tourists. We need grunt work more than fine work right now. I'd like to uncover it before we have to go back to Philly."

"You got it." Jack left and grabbed two young college kids and sent them my way.

I instructed the two workers, Jason and Matthew, who informed me that they were graduate students at the University of Montana, on how I wanted to approach the fossil. We worked until lunch and then went straight back. It was mid-September and the weather was pleasant. It would soon start to turn cold and wet, so speed was necessary. We worked well as a team and even House was almost nice to the kids.

On the third day, I started to get a little bit excited. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but the more we worked, the more I was starting to think we had hit pay dirt. Around 2 pm the next day, I stopped everyone and sat down. I took a deep breath and yelled for Jack. He looked up and came running along with Jade, Kevin and the people from National Geographic.

He ran up, looking at the ground, at what we had uncovered. The huge grin that spread over the faces of Jack, Kevin and Jade caused looks of puzzlement on the face of Jason, Matthew and House, as well as the crew of National Geographic, who were now filming the entire event. Jack grabbed me and the four of us formed a huge group hug. We were all jumping up and down. The entire camp had come to a standstill and was making its way to our side.

Jack turned to the group and the cameras, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Dr. Doyle has just found an invaluable piece of Chu-chu. It's a piece we rarely see in the specimens we have today. The only one in the U.S. with this bone in tact is Sue, in Chicago. The bone is the boomerang-shaped furcula or wishbone. The furcula is possessed by the T. Rex, similar meat-eating dinosaurs and of course modern birds. Unless you have the furcula, it's impossible to know how far apart the T. Rex's arms were. The fact that Chu-chu has one, makes her incredibly valuable and will be more accurate when assembled.

House couldn't help himself, he simply said, "Ka-ching!" Everyone laughed. We posed for photos next to the bone. I even made Matthew and Jason pose with us. That photo alone and their part in excavating the find would insure them a ticket to any doctorate program in the United States in Paleontology. They were stoked.

House and I stepped aside and I let the visiting doctors of Paleontology have their go at excavating the furcula while House and I went down to the lab. We invited Matthew and Jason to go down and have some champagne with us, but they wanted to continue to excavate the furcula.

Jack shook his head, "Damn it girl, you are one lucky son of a gun. If that bone had been three feet further, it would have been out of the contracted excavation site. I really believe that Chu-chu is lookin' down on you two and makin' sure you're takin' care of."

By night, the furicula had been completely excavated and preserved in plaster. She had been purposefully removed from the site just in case there was any looting (although the site had a 24 hour guard, with a shotgun.) The bone was taken back to the University of Montana and housed in the cool basement where other fragile parts of Chu-chu had been transported. House and I took a day to drive over to UM and look at the excavated fossils with Jack, who was beaming. He knew that Chu-chu was going to give Sue a run for her money.

Jack bought us a late lunch before we headed back to Jordan where we picked up Rex and went back to the hotel. We spent another five days at the site filming and visiting friends before we headed back to Philly.

We had avoided talking about our fight and the issues it had brought to the surface for the remainder of the time that we were in Jordan. Things were a tense between us. We hadn't made love at all, even though House had moved into our hotel room the next night. We would watch some late night television and then fall asleep, no cuddling, no talking. Sometimes at night when he thought I was asleep, he'd rub his foot on my leg and put his hand on my hip. He'd roll up to me and smell my hair, but he never tried to hug me or make love to me.

When we left Montana, House drove us from the airport to our home in Philadelphia. The drive was painfully quiet. About ten minutes from our house, I broke the silence. "You wanted to talk the other night and now, when we've cooled off, you avoid it. Greg, what's going on? What's going on in your head?"

"I keep thinking that I'm not cut out for this Maddie. Whenever I try to imagine myself in a normal relationship, I just don't see me being able to make it work. I'm manipulative, narcissic, pessimistic, adolescent and I know I won't be able to make you happy. Ever." He said it with an anger that seemed more directed at himself than me.

"Did I _ask_ you to make me happy?"

"No, but you'll expect me to do things that will keep the relationship going. You'll expect me to act..." He looked at me, "You'll have expectations. People who have expectations of me soon learn to live with disappointment."

I raised my eyebrows as it dawned on me, "Oh no! You're purposefully going to screw up this relationship, aren't you? You're going to make it so hard to be in it that I finally kick give up. Then you can say I didn't love you." I put a hand on his arm instinctively. He looked at it and gave me a look that I should remove it, "Greg, you don't have to do this. I'll love you always, always. The expectations I have are simple, just treat me like you would want me to treat you."

He didn't answer.

"You're not going to listen to anything I have to say, are you? You've made up your mind."

"I heard you." He looked at me coldly and then pulled into our drive. He stayed overnight at our house and then went to work the next day.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 46**

**GROUND ZERO**

I went to work and didn't have time to think about him. I had seventeen paid invitations to various Natural History Museums in my mail, including two in Europe. More importantly, I was helping to identify a crate full of fossilized bones shipped to me from a field in North Dakota. They had been sent to us because the farmer had read about me and my son, T. Rex, and the fact that his sister was buried in Jordan, Montana, where the farmer and his family originally hailed from.

When Friday came House called and left a voice mail at home saying he had a patient and wouldn't be able to make it for the weekend. I didn't call him back. He obviously didn't want to connect with me or he would have called my cell. He was avoiding me.

I called to talk to him on Monday and Tuesday, just to try and mend fences. He didn't return my calls. On Thursday, neither of us called to confirm that he would be coming to the house for the weekend. I was pissed, but I figured that he would come home, if only to see Rex. I knew he would have a hard time staying away from him. I made dinner and kept it waiting, but House didn't show. I guess I could have frozen the chicken parmigiana, but instead, I threw it in the trash with a vengeance and went to bed.

He showed up at 3:00 am, rummaged around in the kitchen and eventually crawled into bed. I could smell the whiskey on his breath as he fell into a snore-fest. I pushed him back onto his side to keep his snoring to a tolerable level. I woke at daybreak when Rex started crying. I went in and took care of him and then started my weekly household chores.

He got up at noon. He wandered out to the kitchen scratching his genitals and yawning. "Coffee?"

"Screw you."

He pretended to be surprised. "Is the honeymoon over?"

"It never got started."

"I know, you're mad because I haven't diddled you?" He nodded towards the bedroom, "Come on, I'll take care of that."

"You better go back to Princeton until this blows over." I turned back to the laundry. I started throwing his clean clothes at him, "You can fold them and get them and you out of here."

He pulled some clean levis, a t-shirt and paid of socks from the pile and put them on. "Holy crap Maddie, I had a patient last night." He put on his sneakers.

"You couldn't call? I suppose your patient needed whiskey? You showed up at 3 am smelling like a bar. Were you driving drunk?"

"I only had one drink."

"You need to go back to your hole until you can treat me like the human I am."

"My name _is_ on title of this little hovel."

"We can rectify that. I'll buy you out."

"You couldn't afford me."

"Fine, Rex and I will leave, you can have the little hovel."

He shook his head in frustration, "You're being stupid. All this anger because of one night?"

I was shaking. "Because you won't talk to me. You won't call me. You look right through me. Hell, you won't even have sex with me. You didn't even have the courtesy to sabotage the relationship subtly. You just bombed it. Why carry on this charade of a relationship if you're going to nuke it? You want me to end it because you don't have the guts to do it yourself." I picked up the folded towels and put them under my arm to take to the linen closet, "Well, I should make your life miserable and make you be the one to walk out on the relationship. But, you're such a coward, you'll push me, make me have to protect myself and Rex from your actions." I didn't want to cry, but the wind was out of my sails. I saw this ship heading for the rocks and I had no rudder. The tears started falling down my cheeks, "Things were going so well. What made you change your mind about us?"

"Me change my mind? You started this. It was your fault. You pushed me into the corner. What did you think I would do? _Africa for three years_? You expect me to continue this charade or a family knowing you're going to leave me?"

"But I was just thinking about my options out loud, I don't know what I'm going to do. You didn't seem that committed to us. We bought this house so you could come home at night, but you opted to stay in Princeton. We could have sat and talked about my options instead of you stewing over them and getting pissed."

"It wasn't just that. The idea that you want my father to be a part of Rex's life, that you don't trust my opinion, well... it sucked."

"So you're punishing me, doing these things to push my buttons?"

He hung his head and then looked up and yelled, "Maybe. Maybe I just don't want you to come to me in five years and say what a huge disappointment I am to you. I've heard that tune so many times I should pay royalties to someone. You didn't really think we could make it together did you? I told you I like them younger and more nimble. You're past your sell-by date and I like fresh milk."

My head was swimming, _What is he telling me? What's causing him to do this? And why is my instinct to cut my losses and run? It would be so easy to just let him go, pull back. But is it really what I want? I really want him. _"Greg, let's not do this. Let's go to counseling. I've managed to push your buttons and you've managed to push mine. We owe it to Rex to try and work on this before we blow it to bits."

"Yeah, we'll put it back together with bubble gum and just when it heals you'll announce that you're running off to Africa with Simon and taking Rex with you. No thanks."

I put the towels down and walked over to him. I held out my arms to hug him, to hold him and let him know I _wasn't going to run, I was going to stay and fight for this relationship_. Oh, I wanted to run. My whole body was telling me to let him go and get on with my life, but I recognized that I was in survivor mode. If I really wanted to change, I had to plant my feet here, take a chance with him. I had to make this work for all three of us.

He looked at me, standing with my arms open and as he took a step forward I started to feel a surge of relief wash through me. He got just within reach of my arms and then ducked around me, snickering and saying, "_Gotcha_." He grabbed his keys and walked back to our bedroom. A minute later he came back out, putting his wallet in his pocket and holding Rex.

He looked at me, emotionless. "I wasn't with a patient last night, I was with a new nurse from the hospital. She's 26, prettier, no cellulite, dynamite in bed and doesn't expect anything from me. Go back to Simon, he can give you the stability you need so much." He kissed Rex and put him over in the corner with his toys. Without a glance back at me, he took off, the door closing with a resounding thud. I was frozen in place, unable to understand what had just happened.

I didn't do anything. I didn't run after him because I didn't want to do or say something I would regret later. I wasn't even sure that House had told me the truth about a nurse. The only person I thought would know for sure was Jim, but it turned out he was at a conference in Florida. The rest of the day I played the entire last month over and over in my head, but it all came down to the fact that House was convinced I was going to eventually leave him. I left a message on his voice mail asking him to call me so that we could talk. He didn't call back.

I continued to go to work and deal with the wreckage of my life. The following week I was served with papers requesting that House be given joint custody of Rex and an order that Rex not be taken out of the country without the approval of the court and notice to House. The hearing was set for December 3rd. The following day his attorney went to court ex-parte to get temporary orders granting House custody every weekend from 4 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Sunday.

I was devastated. The fact that it had come to this caused me to spiral into a deep depression. I had a hard time doing anything although I did manage to attend the ex-parte hearing.

"Dr. Doyle, do you have an attorney?" the judge asked.

"No sir, I haven't had time to find one."

"Well, I can't hold up this hearing, so you'll have to represent yourself. What do you have to say about the request made by Dr. House?"

"Sir, although I see my son each night after work, most of it is spent doing daily activities, feeding him, bathing him, getting him to bed. I need weekend time to enjoy him, take him out, be with him. I do that on the weekends."

"I understand Dr. Doyle, but Dr. House currently has no prescribed time with your son. He's entitled to either have the baby live with him during the week or have him on the weekends. I hate to disrupt the child's routine so I think it's better he stay with you during the week." He paused and looked at my stunned face, "But I am sympathetic to your desire to have some weekend time with your son."

House's attorney, Carrie Evans, jumped up, "Your honor, essentially Dr. Doyle will be getting twenty-two days and nights with the baby compared to my client's request for eight (8) days per month."

"Well counsel, I still believe that Dr. Doyle deserves time with her son on the weekend. I hereby grant Dr. House's petition for temporary custody as to three weekends per month.

As we walked out of the court, I tried to talk to House. He and his attorney left the court room and I was right behind him. They were talking and walking towards the elevator. I grabbed Greg's arm, "Greg, please. Can we talk about all of this? Please?"

He looked down at my hand with contempt. His attorney removed my hand gently and started to talk to me as Greg got on the elevator, "Dr. Doyle, you need to hire an attorney and then have them call me. Please don't try to have any contact with Dr. House except through me or during the delivery of your son on the days he has custody. Even then," She got on the elevator with Greg, "Only communicate what is necessary to enable Dr. House to care for Rex. Any discussions about the custody of your son should be discussed with me, not him."

I stared at House as the doors began to close, but he wouldn't look at me. I ran down the stairs, but couldn't catch up. I watched them leave the building. I don't remember driving home. I don't remember much about that evening except that Tracey stayed inside the house and took care of Rex. I slept. I barely made it to work and back for the next few days. I relied heavily on Tracey to help around the house. I forgot to eat. My milk dried up and I was forced to wean Rex off of breast milk.

I was at work when House came to pick up Rex. Tracey apparently called him a "piece of sh!t," resulting in his attorney calling me and threatening to ask for full custody if I didn't hire someone more mature to take care of Rex.

"Bite me. Tell Greg that truth is the ultimate defense." I hung up.

On Saturday I was in the middle of my marathon sleep-fest when the constant ringing of he doorbell finally woke me up. I answered the door and had to blink to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It was James Wilson on my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.His free hand came up to cover his now wide-opened mouth, "I came to see how you were taking all this, but I don't need to ask. Maddie, you don't look well."

"Am I suppose to look well?" I was a little groggy from the sleeping pills I had taken. "Come in Jim. If you want something to drink, you'll have to find it yourself. I haven't been grocery shopping in a few days."

"Maddie, can you tell me what happened?"

I passed the hall mirror on the way to the living room and realized then why Jim was so shocked. I had knots in my hair, my days old makeup was smeared around my eyes and in little lines running down my cheeks. My lips were dried up and there were black and purple circles under my eyes. My t-shirt was wrinkled to the point you couldn't read the logo and I suddenly noticed that I didn't have any pants on, only my boy short underwear.

"One minute we're all happy about the dig, the next we're fighting about his parents and then he's screwing a nurse and telling me it's over. Our relationship disintegrated faster than the Challenger and now I'm waiting for the congressional investigation so I'll know why."

"Nurse? What nurse?" Jim asked.

"He claims that the Friday before last, he and a new twenty something nurse with no cellulite screwed their brains out. Basically, he let me know that he preferred her to me."

"The Friday before last he was at the hospital with a patient all night. I know, Chase and House consulted with me on the phone at 1:00 am while I was down in Tampa, Florida."

"But he had been drinking!"

"House keeps whiskey in his desk drawer. He frequently has a drink at work, especially if he has to stay late." Jim smiled and shook his head, "Maddie, he's _not_ screwing anyone."

"Why would you tell someone that you've found someone younger, prettier, better in bed and who didn't care what you did...the ideal woman?"

"To make you give up on him."

"Well, it worked." I curled up in the corner of the couch.

"You can't let him do this to you or Rex or the three of you."

"I don't have the energy to fight it."

"What does your attorney say?"

"I don't have one."

"You need one. I'll contact my cousin in Philly, he's in a big firm, he'll find you someone. You need to ask for counseling."

"I suggested it but Greg wouldn't go."

"Have the court require him to do it."

"We're not married. Why would the court require it?"

"I don't know, they seem to like everyone to get along, especially when children are involved. Are you okay financially?"

"Yeah, but Greg didn't send his monthly check to pay for the nanny."

"He stopped support?"

"Yeah, but we never had anything in writing. He just did it voluntarily."

"But there will be records of his checks. The court won't like that he stopped."

"His papers have something in it about support payments." I got up and went to the table, picked through the mounting pleadings and found it. I handed it to Wilson.

"That son of a b!tch. He makes $16,000 a month and he's offering to pay you $642 a month in child support, the state minimum."

"I don't care."

"Maddie, he wants to pay you less each month for his son's support than he uses to bet on the horses."

"Jim, if he thinks his son is only worth $642 a month, then that's fine. He has to live with it."

"You need to tell your attorney that he makes more than $16,000 a month."

"I don't need his money. I've lived frugally most of my life, I can do it again."

Wilson kept reading the remainder of the paper, "Maddie, did you know he wants to force the sale of the house and split the profits?"

My heart sunk. We had been so happy when we bought the house. We made sure it had a downstairs bedroom because of Greg's leg and a nice big back yard for the future jungle gym. We fell in love with the house as soon as we saw it. "What? He wants to force Rex and I out of the house?"

"Apparently." Jim continued to read.

I think Wilson thought that this would galvanize me, make me want to fight. It did just the opposite, it made me want to pack up my tent and go away. Jim stayed with me that weekend, using our guest room and making me lots of tea and trying to get me to eat. He encouraged me to get cleaned up and dressed, which I finally did.

On Sunday at 4:00 pm there was a knock on the door. Jim and I were watching our fifth DVD of the weekend. He got up and went to the door to answer it.

"What are you doing here?" I heard House ask him.

"Cleaning up another one of your messes. Give me Rex and get out of here House." Jim's voice was vitriolic.

"What do you mean, _my_ mess?"

Jim lowered his voice in the hopes that I wouldn't hear them argue. "You want to kick your son and his mother out of their house?"

"The attorney is just using that as leverage." House lowered his voice even further, "I'm not going to make her sell it, not until he's eighteen."

I got up and went to the hall. House saw me and then looked away. I held out my arms to take Rex. Rex was already holding out his arms to me. House yielded him to me. I kissed him and hugged him tightly. "Was he good for you?" I asked softly.

House squirmed a little, "He was great. He ate an hour ago and slept a couple of hours this afternoon.

"Good." I looked at Wilson who was staring at the floor and then I looked up and met House's cold blue eyes, "Greg, if you have a realtor you like, send them over and we can get the house on the market as soon as possible."

House looked sheepishly at Wilson and then at me, "Let's not get ahead of the game, wait and talk to my attorney about it."

"I'm not waiting. Send me over anything that you want me to sign and I'll sign it. I want this over. I'm not sleeping or eating and it's just draining me. I don't have any energy for Rex. I gave Tracey a month's notice like you asked. Besides, without your money to keep her, I'd have to let her go anyway. So I'll find an apartment and daycare closer to work. I read the pleadings. They say you want to be notified if I take him out of the country, that's fine. You want me to get a court order before I take him out of the country, that's okay too. You want to give me $642 a month in child support..."

House jumped in, "I plan to give more ..."

I put my hand up to stop him, "I was going to say that I don't want any money from you. Keep it, use it to buy whatever it is you want to buy. You could take your nurse to Atlantic City for a weekend." I paused a second and nuzzled Rex, "You want joint custody? I wouldn't keep Rex from you; I hope you know that. The visitation you have right now, will that work?"

House looked at Wilson again, as if he needed his approval, "Sure. It works. Maddie, you don't have to sell the house."

"Nah, I won't be able to afford both the house and daycare until we sell Chu-chu. It's okay, the house just makes me sad now." I smiled the best smile I could muster, which I guess wasn't very convincing because House looked away again. "Can you just have your attorney draw up the papers and send them over. Let's get this over with okay?"

He nodded and I took the diaper bag and walked away, into the living room. Jim said something to House and I heard House say, "Bite me."

Jim went back to Princeton and I put Rex down to sleep next to me in my Queen Sized bed. I needed to know he was safe, with me. We slept until the alarm went off at 6:30 am. Tracey came in and took over for me as I got ready. I was going to miss her, but she already had something lined up and told me not to worry about her.

Three days later I received a stipulation from House's attorney setting out what I had agreed to with the exception that it stated that House would pay me $3,000 a month in child support. I called the attorney.

"Miss Evans, this is Dr. Doyle."

"Dr. Doyle, is there a problem with the stipulation?"

"Yes, I won't sign it with the $3,000 support clause. I told Greg, I didn't want anything."

"He insisted that it be put into the stipulation."

"Take it out and send the stipulation back over and I'll sign it."

"Dr. Doyle, I feel a little odd and I probably shouldn't say this, but I really think you should talk to a lawyer before signing this or deleting the support clause."

"I trust Greg. I know he loves Rex. He just doesn't love me."

"Dr. Doyle. I shouldn't tell you this. But whatever you said to Dr. House on Sunday sure made him sober up. He seemed almost sorry when he came to see me. No, not sorry, sad. He seemed sad. Well, I'll take out the clause and send it back to you."

The revised agreement was in my office the next day by FedEx. I signed and sent it back. The court stamped it and it was recorded that Friday. I had just gotten back from a trip to Washington D.C. and returned home on Friday in time to hand over Rex.

House walked in without knocking. I was getting Rex ready, changing him on the bed. House came back and stood at the bedroom door. Rex had seen him and was babbling "Da-da" all over the place. I turned around and spotted House. I jumped back because I wasn't expecting anyone. "Christ, you scared me."

"Sorry. Hey Dude, you ready for boy's night out?"

I stood Rex up and pulled his pants over his diaper. "Greg, I have the listing agreement out in the kitchen, can you sign it before you leave?"

"That was quick. You sure you want to sell?"

"Absolutely, this house isn't a home anymore." I started to tear up and so I turned my head away and hoped he hadn't noticed. I picked up Rex and held him, kissed him and handed him to Greg.

"Maddie?" he said it so gingerly. "I..."

"The papers are on the table, I'll get them. Oh, and I was wondering if you would trade next weekend for the weekend after? I'd like to give Rex a birthday party. You're invited of course."

I brought him the papers in and he signed them. I got him the diaper bag and carried it to his car for him as Rex walked with his Dad.

"So is it okay? Can I have him the weekend after next."

"Can I bring my parents to the party? They were scheduled to fly out to meet him that week."

"Oh Gosh, I forgot. Sure. Do you want him during the week too?"

"That would be great."

"Call me and we can work something out."

His voice dropped again, "Maddie, I may have made a ..."

I pretended to hear the phone ring, "Oh, that's the phone. Sorry. I'll see you on Sunday." I ran into the house and closed the door behind me. I didn't want to hear about mistakes, I needed to protect myself from ever feeling this pain again.

**CHAPTER 47**

**DO ALL GOOD THINGS HAVE BAD ENDINGS**

I had to keep the house clean all the time for the prospective buyers. It was hard because I had so little energy to handle the feelings I was having, the day to day work of being a single mom, and trying to find day care and a new apartment. We had some serious prospects by the third week and our realtor told me to expect several offers soon.

I had a little birthday party planned for Rex. The guests included mostly the kids of my staff, a couple of neighbor children, Tracey, Jim, House and his parents. I had planned on about fifteen people.

I bought the cowboy cake and some party favors, recharged the camera batteries, decorated the house with balloons and streamers and made up goody bags for the kids. I wore an off -the- shoulder polka-dot sweater and black slacks. I had my hair cut really short and decided to go with some mascara and red lipstick to try and look a little more alive. House was going to bring his parents an hour before the party so that they could meet Rex before the others arrived.

I dressed Rex in some jeans, a blue shirt and cowboy vest. Jade had sent him his first pair of cowboy boots which I put on his little feet. I had a little cowboy hat too, but he kept knocking it off. He looked adorable and his blue eyes really shone. If they didn't love him at first site, then they were heartless. I straightened my sweater and answered the door when the bell rang.

They both had big smiles and House was frowning. "Mr.& Mrs. House, please come in." I opened the door and they walked in looking in all directions for Rex. "Rex is in the living room playing. Greg can you take their coats and I can take them into the living room."

House took the coats and hung them up in the closet. "Mom, Dad, this is Maddie Doyle."

When we shook hands, his Mom said, "Please call us Blythe and John."

We went into the living room where Rex was playing with one of his birthday presents, a 'See 'n Say' that pointed to the letters of the alphabet. Rex looked up, saw his Grandparents and then beamed when he saw his Dad. He ran to his Dad and threw himself at his legs. Blythe and John both smiled when they saw how much their grandson loved his Dad.

"Hey Rex, meet your grandparents. This is Grandmom and this is Sir."

His father shook his head and said to Rex, "Call me Granddad."

Rex was a little leery, but Blythe smiled sweetly and held out her arms. Greg handed him to her and she kissed and cuddled him like any grandmother would. I took a photo. She handed him to Greg's father who beamed and posed with his Grandson for a photo.

"He looks just like Greg at that age." John said.

"He sure does." Blythe agreed.

"Please sit down. Can I get you something to drink?" I asked.

"Coffee?" They both said in unison.

I went and got them their coffee and brought it into the living room. I don't know what I had expected. I had thought I would immediately dislike his father, but I didn't. He was kind to Rex, charming and funny. Blythe was the epitome of the fifties wife and mother. I liked them both.

"Greg says you're selling the house because the commute is too much." Blythe said.

I was a little thrown off, but soon realized that he didn't want them to know the truth. "Yes, it's a big trip during the rush hour. I'm going to get something a little closer to Philly."

"Greg, won't that make it harder for you?" his mom asked.

"I keep my apartment in Princeton just in case I have a patient and need to be close."

"Where are you staying?" I asked.

"The Radison in downtown Philadelphia. We got in last night."

We talked awhile and then House's mother brought out photos of Greg when he was a baby and toddler. She gave me a few of the photos. She was right, you would have thought that they were photos of Rex if you didn't already been told they were Greg. Greg's Dad got down on the floor and built block walls and other items with Rex. Rex was trying to babble about something. His Grandfather pretended to understand him and kept nodding and laughing.

Rex's party was sweet. Most of the people knew that Greg and I had broken up, but no one said anything that gave it away to House's parents. We were civil to each other and even occasionally called each other honey for authenticity. Greg asked if he could take Rex for the next four days and I agreed. When we were in the kitchen alone he cornered me.

"I'm sorry. I know I should have told them, but my mom was so excited about the idea that I had a baby, a girlfriend, and a house that I didn't have the guts to tell her. I will tomorrow."

"Do what you want to do. Tell them now or tell them when they go home, I don't care. I like them. I even like your Dad. I know you didn't want to hear that, but he seems to be trying really hard."

"He is nice...now. He's mellowed a lot with age. But I still think I'm a disappointment to him. I think I've earned some brownie points though for having such a cute kid. He seems absolutely bowled over."

"Who wouldn't be after meeting Rex?" We both smiled. He reached over and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Thanks Maddie. Thanks for playing."

I let him pick up Rex the next day. Rex spent the next few days visiting with his grandparents. The excuse given for my absence was that I was attending a conference. House and Rex stayed in Philly at the same hotel. On the last day they were in town, I was surprised to hear myself being paged to the front desk. I went up and saw the four Houses standing at the admissions desk. We walked through the Academy and I showed them the work I was performing down in the lab. They were pleased and I think they were impressed. John carried Rex, who was now dead asleep on his grandfather's shoulder. Afterwards we all went to dinner. It was very pleasant, not the nasty scene I had expected. When their trip was over and the Houses had flown back to California, Greg returned Rex.

"Greg, we have an offer on the house, but the realtor thinks we should be getting another tomorrow. They're offering ten thousand under the asking price. She thinks we should wait and see what the other offer brings in and I have to agree. I think the second couple will make a full price offer and I'd like to see them get the house. It's a young couple with a toddler and they like the big yard, just like we did."

"Maddie, I'll sign whatever you tell me to sign. If you don't want to move, you don't have to."

"No, I found an apartment near the Academy and a daycare center around the corner from it. It's perfect for just Rex and me."

He nodded and grabbed the dish rag to clean down the counters while I stacked the dishwasher. "Maddie, I know it's none of my business, but has Simon said anything to you?"

"About my job?"

"Well that and about us?"

"He told me he was sorry that it didn't work out and that if I needed time off I could take it. But he hasn't said anything about the job yet."

"Are you feeling better? You still look like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas."

"You don't have to worry about me Greg. I'll be fine. Jack called and told me that they've wrapped up the dig for the next four months, but that they think they'll have Chu-chu completely excavated by the beginning of August next year. We should know in May how much of a dinosaur we have. He told me we already have at least 65 percent, and with the furicula and an intact skull, he thinks she'll bring in almost as much as Sue."

"That's good to know." He put the rag in the sink and washed his hands, "I better get going."

"Hot date with the nurse?" I smiled.

He looked at me and with a sad, sad look of contrition said, "There never was a nurse Maddie."

"I know Greg. I never really believed that you would cheat on me."

"You knew?"

"It didn't matter. If you felt the need for me to believe that you had cheated then it meant that things were on a collision course anyway."

"Maddie, you scare me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know how to live without you."

"You'll figure it out."

"Maybe. Well, I better get going. Can you keep Rex this weekend? I need time to catch up at work. We're expecting an important patient tomorrow."

"Sure."

He put his coat on and left. I turned out the lights and went to bed. I had a dream that night. I dreamed I was wrapped in his arms and legs and we couldn't get disentangled. We tried and tried, but just when we would unwrap one limb the other would be just as tangled with another. In between us was a howling Rex, needing to be fed and cuddled, but even though we were both right there, we couldn't take care of him. I woke up feeling like I was choking.

We made it through Thanksgiving, the move and Christmas. On New Years Eve I crawled up on the couch with one of those tiny bottle of champagne and dreamed of how happy I had been just one year before. I took a pot from the kitchen and opened the front and back doors like my family did when I was a little kid. I banged on the pot to get the old year to leave by the back door so that the new one could come in through the front. It was bloody freezing, but I just felt an overwhelming desire to make sure that the last year had been exorcized. I then stood on the front porch in the snow. The frozen air was blowing through my thin nightgown and turning my bare feet blue. I could hear the remnants of firecrackers and party sounds. I looked up at a saucer shaped moon shining so silvery over the porches of all the rowhouses that they sparkled like spun sugar. I asked the moon if I would ever find someone? If he knew, he certainly wasn't telling me. Since he was talking, I went back inside and then to bed.

House and I fell into a rhythm. We rarely had any harsh words between us and seemed to do our best to work out our schedules to accommodate each other. House even kept Rex on the occasions when I had to go out of town. He used the hospital daycare on those days when Rex stayed with him during the week.

Simon was great. He didn't hit on me, but I could tell his demeanor towards me had changed. I think he could tell that I was suffering like he had suffered over me and he had some empathy for that. Jim was a sweetheart. He'd come up occasionally and do household chores for me and take us out to dinner. He was a good friend to me and Rex.

The new cadence to my life beat without interference until the blustery month of March when I woke up one morning to the sound of my usually bubbly son, whimpering.

**(TO THE READERS- you're getting close to the end! (four chapters left) I would really appreciate it if you would let me know if you like the story. Also, I want to thank those who have marked it as a favorite story, that really encourages me to keep going! Thank you for reading!)**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 48**

**THOUGHTS ABOUT LIGHTENING STRIKING**

Maddie heard him start to cry at 5:00 am, several hours earlier than usual. She flipped on the light in Rex's room and immediately saw the flush his skin and the shine in his eyes. She recognized the sign of a fever from the many times that Chu-chu would run one. She checked his forehead and body and he was hot. Maddie was a little flustered. Rex had been the victim of some sniffles in his first year, but never a fever. She rummaged through the bathroom drawers to find the unused baby thermometer. She finally found it two drawers down still in its plastic wrap.

She took his temperature, 102°F. She realized that it was high but not high enough that she should panic. She gave her whimpering son baby-Tylenol and some juice. He wouldn't eat, so she rocked him until she could get him back to sleep. Once he was asleep she called his pediatrician and made an appointment to take him in at ten o'clock. She wondered if she should call House. Was this one of those things she should notify him about or would he consider it crying wolf and end up calling her a moron? He always complained when mothers brought their kids into clinic for something as simple as a cold or the flu. She opted to wait.

By the time she took Rex into the pediatrician, his fever had climbed to 102.5°F even with another dose of Tylenol. Dr. Ravel was not happy that his temperature had risen after he had received Tylenol.

"So far his ears are clear and so are his lungs. I'm not sure what it is so I think we need to admit him at Children's Hospital to run some tests. Can you drive him over and I'll send over the orders?"

"Sure." Maddie tried not to let her emotions show. She bundled Rex us and put him in his baby seat in the back of the car. She got behind the wheel and dialed House.

House was in the middle of discussing with Chase his research on some of their patient's symptoms when the call came through to his cell. He held up a finger to Chase to indicate he needed to take the call after seeing that the caller was Maddie.

"Maddie?"

"Greg. Rex is sick. His temperature went from 102°F to 102.5°F this morning after receiving Tylenol. Dr. Ravel is admitting him to Children's for tests. I just thought you'd like to know."

House was surprised to hear his son was sick. Rex had always been so healthy. But he was no longer breast feeding and he was attending day care now which meant it was inevitable that he would start picking up diseases from other kids.

"Is he coughing?"

"No. His lungs and ears are clear."

"What about his throat?"

"It's a little red, but not beefy according to Ravel."

"I'll be down this afternoon. If his temperature goes above 103°F call me right away."

"Okay." she said hanging up and feeling sick to her stomach. When they arrived at the hospital, the smells when they entered brought back so many memories and emotions that Maddie was having a hard time concentrating on what she was suppose to do. She wanted to take Rex and run away; just keep going so that he would never have to stay in a hospital.But luckily the clerk at admitting saw the slightly panicked look on her face and assured her all would be fine.

They took his temperature, it was 103°F. Maddie felt her entire body start to shake. As the nurses dressed Rex in hospital garb and drew blood, Maddie called House. She tried to center herself, so he wouldn't know she was losing it.

"Maddie? What's up?"

She said it with the flattest of tones she could muster, "It's over 103°F."

House could hear the undertones of panic in her voice. It was a less manic version of the tone she had when they told her Chu-chu would not make it. He realized that she needed someone right away. "Okay Maddie, I'm on my way."

House turned to Chase, "Rex is in the hospital. I have to get down to Philly. Run the biluribin and get another MRI. I'll be reachable on my cell."

Chase nodded. "Sure, no problem. Give my best to Maddie and give Rex a hug."

House rolled his eyes and then grabbed his jacket, hat and keys. He took off, driving as fast as the icy roads would let him. He kept thinking about Maddie and Rex. _Panicked. She sounded really scared...in a drugged out way. Losing control of your emotions makes you do stupid things, like pushing the best thing in your life away from you. _House turned his attention back to getting on the expressway. _I need to let it go. It's over, I f#cked it up as usual and this time, I did it right. She's always kind but her emotions are flat when she's with me. I'm just the guy who shares custody of Rex now. She relies more no Wilson than me. I bet Simon is warming her bed instead of me. Damn. Nine months, I made it nine months before I blew it. Well, who knows, maybe I can show her I'm not the maniacal jerk I was five months ago. Maybe she'll see I've learned my lesson._

House pulled into the parking lot at Children's Hospital and found a handicap parking spot close to the entrance. He was directed to the third floor and as soon as he saw the back of her head in the window of the room he practically ran.

When Maddie heard the cane come through the door she turned and jumped up. The glue that had been barely holding her together now dissolved. She collapsed into tears as House held her next to his pea coat. He put his cane on the chair and put both arms around her. Maddie's hands were wrapped tightly around the collar of his coat. He reached down and kissed the top of her head. Maddie would normally have pulled away, but she needed him to keep her safe. She needed for him to fix it, make Rex well.

"Greg? He was suppose to be healthy." Her voice was clipped by short breaths, "You promised me he would be healthy. Is he going to die?"

"Maddie, it's a fever. All kids get fevers. Don't be a moron, he's not going to die. Sit down and let me look at his chart."

Maddie nodded and sat down. House grabbed the chart at the bottom of the bed, "Crap this is just his vitals. I'll be back." House took off to the charge desk. Maddie could see him having an argument with one of the nurses who reluctantly handed him a chart. He looked at it and then said something to the nurse again. He came back into the room. He walked over to Rex and felt his head and opened Rex's eyes.

"What is it?" she asked.

House shook his head, "The blood work isn't back yet. The urine is clear." House undid Rex's top and looked at his skin. "He has a slight heat rash, but nothing else. It's probably a virus, but I've paged the doctor. Rex should be on prophylactic antibiotics."

House looked up to see a young female doctor come into the room. She put out her hand to Maddie, "Mrs. Doyle," and then nodded at House, "Mr. Doyle. I'm Dr. Ciga and I want you know we're taking good care of Tearlach and are just waiting..."

"House, _Doctor _Gregory House from Princeton Plainsboro and that's Dr. Maddie Doyle from the Academy of Natural Sciences. Rex is our son." House's voice turned adamant, insistent, "He should be on prophylactic antibiotics. I'd say it's probably aseptic meningitis, but the antibiotics should be started just in case it's bacterial meningitis."

"Dr. House, you're a little too close to the case to be making these decisions. You need to trust..."

"How long have you been practicing?"

The doctor looked pissed, "I've been a resident for two years now."

"Yeah...and you want to tell me I don't know what I'm doing?" House squinted his eyes at her, "Do you have any clue who I am?"

"No, I don't and even if your were Jesus Christ, I'd tell you the same thing."

He snickered, "Forget Jesus, you're talking to God. Go get the antibiotics you moron or I'm moving him to Princeton Plainsboro where they'll actually treat him."

The doctor looked at House and then at Maddie and stormed out. Ten minutes later when the antibiotics still hadn't been administered, House was fuming and ready to take Rex to Princeton. A minute later an older man came in, nodded at House and shook Maddie's hand. Dr. Ciga was trailing contritely behind him. "Dr. Doyle, it's an honor to meet you. I'm Dr. Bill Butcher." He shook Maddie's hand and then looked at House, "I've ordered the antibiotics and we'll start pumping fluids into him. Okay?"

"Thanks Bill. Any word on the blood work?"

"Not yet. I'm in charge of your son's case now, so try not to bite Dr. Ciga too hard?" He paused, "I heard they opened a second diagnostics department at PPTH. You guys that busy?"

"Yep. My former fellow is heading it up. But, I'm the go-to guy when he gets lost along the yellow brick road."

"How's Wilson?"

"Tragically flawed and working on trying to find Mrs. Right number 4."

Butcher chuckled, "He's always been a sucker for a sob story."

Rex opened his eyes and held his arms up for House to hold him. House picked him up and cuddled him. Rex whimpered a little, saw his Mom and held his arms out for her. House handed him over and watched as Rex held his head stiffly when Maddie took him in her arms.

Dr. Butcher nodded, "I see what you mean. Ciga, get those antibiotics in here stat."

Ciga ran out of the room and within a minute was back with ampicillin and saline. The nurse came in and started a line into Rex, who was now laying back in the crib-like bed. Dr. Butcher turned to House, "I'll be back as soon as the tests are available."

House just nodded and then Butcher and Ciga left the room. House saw Ciga turn and give him a sheepish look. House snorted and shook his head. She obviously had received an ss chewing from Butcher.

Maddie looked at House, "Dr. _Butcher_?" She scrunched her face up in distaste. "How can you have a name like Butcher and be a doctor?"

House chuckled, "He's good. We went to Hopkins together. He also practiced at PPTH for a few years before being hired as the head of infectious diseases here."

Maddie closed her eyes in weary anticipation, "Did you two get along?"

"Yeah, we did. Wilson, Butcher and I used to play golf together."

Maddie exhaled. "Good, I'm glad to hear that."

House took a chair and they waited. They talked for an hour about House's parents and his new pay raise. Maddie told him the news about Chu-chu. "They want us up there next month to announce the percentage of the find. Jack told me that officially they place it at 73-75." She paused, looked at Rex and then back to House. "I know I'm irrational. I know he's not Chu-chu, but no matter how often I tell myself that, I still feel out of control and scared to death."

"Maddie, every parent feels that way when their kid is admitted into a hospital. I'm not exactly feeling comfortable either and I know better than most that he'll be fine in a few days." House was surprised to see Maddie's body relax a little and her face lost some of that tense hysteria that had been lurking underneath that otherwise flat facade of hers.

"Thanks Greg. Thanks for coming."

He frowned, "Maddie, don't thank me for taking care of my son. That's ridiculous. I'm not in this for show. I really do have feelings for the rugrat."

"I know you do, but you came quickly and you let me have my breakdown without chastising me."

"You've earned a breakdown or two...but three's your limit, got it?"

She smiled.

"So, how's Simon?" he asked.

"Fine." she looked at House who was looking away from her, trying to appear nonchalant. "We aren't dating."

"I didn't ask."

She giggled, "You are so transparent. I'm a little gun shy these days. Even if someone made a pass at me I probably wouldn't pick up on it. You managed to torpedo whatever hope I had of finding a relationship, at least for now."

He looked down at his feet and then at her with sympathetic eyes, "I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, who cares. I've lived most of my life without a man. Besides, Rex there is a handful. He's the only relationship I need for now. Jim said that you had a few dates with a doctor."

_Damn Wilson, it was just a few dates to see if I could get back in the game, forget how bad I screwed up. _"It was a mistake. She wised up long before you did though."

"Oh, I never did wise up. There's always that little part of me that keeps thinking it was all just a nightmare and I'll wake up and we'll be one happy family." Maddie said it and then realized how it sounded. "I don't mean that I really expect that to happen...just that it's still hard. I don't know what I did wrong."

"Christ Maddie, don't beat yourself up. You just bet on a lame horse. I didn't exactly let you have any, " he held his fingers up, ""closure.""

She took a deep breath, "I should keep my mouth shut. It's all old news."

House looked up as Butcher came through the door. He looked concerned.

Butcher handed House the results of the blood work. "It looks like bacterial meningitis, but we need a lumbar tap. Good news is that there's not much to do that we aren't already doing. "

House's face darkened, sending chills down Maddie's spine. "Greg?"

House leaned forward and grabbed Maddie's hand, "I knew it was meningitis but I thought it was viral. Bacterial meningitis is more serious but he'll be fine. Treatment is antibiotics and fluids. He's already on Ampicillin." House looked up at Butcher, "Are you going to start him on Cefotaxime?"

"Do you prefer that to Rocephin?" Butcher asked.

"Yeah." House nodded.

"Then I'll order it." Butcher left. "I'll send in my team to do the tap."

House looked at Maddie, "Why don't you stretch your legs and go get me a coffee? I'll stay if he wakes up."

"Okay." She grabbed her wallet and went to the lobby downstairs to the coffee cart and bought a coffee with cream and then added two and a half sugars. She bought a hot chocolate for her. She went back and gave him the coffee. He took a sip and smiled, "Only you know exactly how much sugar to put in."

"Are you flirting with me?" Maddie teased.

"Maybe. I'm a little rusty."

"You had me at Cefotaxime." They both smiled.

"Maddie, I made a big mis..." House was interrupted by Dr. Ciga.

"We're here to get a spinal tap." Ciga said.

Maddie stood up, "Isn't that painful?"

"It can be uncomfortable." Ciga reassured Maddie.

"It hurts like hell." House said.

Ciga sighed. "It might help him if one of you held him still while we do it."

House looked over at Maddie, "I'll play bad cop and hold him. Why don't you step out?"

"It's okay, I'll stay."

They turned Rex over and rolled his little knees up to his chest. Maddie stroked his hair as House held his knees in place. When the needle went in Rex cried out and both parents frowned in sympathy for their son. Maddie instinctively put her hand on her heart, it hurt so much when she heard his cry.

"Ah pumpkin. It'll be better soon." Maddie looked at House and gave him a sad look. He nodded in acknowledgment.

"Hey dude, when you're better we'll take you to the carousel."

When it was over they still couldn't pick him up because of the intravenous lines, so they had to be content with just stroking him in his crib. His fever climbed slightly, causing House some concern which he did not share with Maddie. But around 8 pm, just after Jeopardy, his fever broke. He ate a little and then went to sleep.

House grabbed Maddie's hand, "Let's get something to eat."

They went down to the cafeteria and grabbed some food. House even paid for it. They sat down with their trays at a table next to the window. Maddie looked outside at the night sky, "I'm going to spend the night here. Why don't you go back to my place and get some sleep. You can spell me in the morning and I can run back and get a shower."

"Sounds good, I pulled an all-nighter last night, I could use the sleep." House said. He was feeling better now that Rex's fever was down a little.

Maddie gave House the key to her apartment and he drove over to it. He showered and then looked around, but was soon so overcome with fatigue that he decided to retire. He climbed in the bed and laid back on the pillow. He could smell her on the pillow and the sheets. The deep longing hurt. He pulled the pillow close to him and with her smell filling up his senses, he fell asleep into a deep slumber.

He woke up the next morning and put on his shorts. He found one of her dirty t-shirts in the clothes hamper and threw it in his backpack. H He looked around and saw nothing that suggested she had a man in her life. He did find a few letters of interest. One was from the National Geographic offering her a grant of $350,000 to conduct a field exploration in South Africa when here tenure at the Academy was up. She had an offer from UCBerkeley to be the director of the Museum of Paleontology. Another was an offer of employment in Argentina setting up a government agency that would fund several field expeditions throughout Argentina. House started to get nervous. He looked around for anything that might look like her response. He tried to log into her computer but it was blocked by a password. He tried, Paleontology, Chu-chu, Chumani, Tearlach, T. Rex, Rex, Jordan, Montana, California, but nothing was working. He looked around the desk and finally found an address book. He looked through it and in the back it had anniversaries. He tried them. They didn't work. He finally typed GreglovesMaddie –nothing. MaddielovesGreg – bing, the screen popped up.

_Who knew that inside Maddie Doyle was a teenager, scribbling out her initials in little hearts and making up passwords about love. _House was a little optimistic, she hadn't changed her password. _She still has that little flame in her heart._

He looked on her computer and found several replies requesting more details about the job offers, but no commitments. House went into Quickbooks and found her financial information. He saw that Maddie had poured all the money from the sale of the house into a college fund for Rex. She had about $9,000 in personal savings. She didn't have much left over each month but $200 a month went into her savings account and $50 went into Rex's college fund. Her day care expense was $795 a month. House pissed away $795 on whiskey and Itunes a month. It aggravated him that she wouldn't accept any money from him. He knew that once Chu-chu was sold, she'd have plenty of money. Still, he realized that there was very little wiggle room in her budget for fun. Her entertainment appeared to be a subscription to cable television and Netflix. It didn't appear like she got out to do anything. She probably didn't have money for a babysitter. He shut down the computer and dressed for the hospital.

He walked into Rex's room and found Rex sitting in Maddie's lap looking at a book. They both looked up and Rex reached out with his arms, opening and closing his little fists for House to take him. House picked him up and kissed him. "You look much chipper, sport. You look like you're ready for a beer and a hoagie." Rex squealed.

"His fever is down to 100°F and he had some food this morning."

Butcher came in and looked at Rex, "From the look of his stats, I'd say he's ready to go home. It was Strep B. and it looks like the cocktail we gave him worked. He's a sweet kid House. He must take after his Mom."

"You moron, can't you see those blue eyes? He's all House."

House and Maddie checked Rex out. Maddie put him in the back of the car and then opened up the driver's door to get inside. She turned to say goodbye to House. "Do you mind if I keep Rex this weekend, make sure he feels better?"

"Would it be okay if I drove up to see if him?" he asked

"Of course."

On Friday House drove up to Maddie's apartment. He knocked on the door and heard her yell, "Come in." He walked in and found Rex playing with his toys on the floor of the eat in kitchen and Maddie at the stove. He could smell the Chicken Korma on the stove, one of his favorites; one that Maddie would cook for him on special occasions.

"That smells great." He said. He handed her a bottle of Grey Goose with a ribbon on it.

"Thank you. It will be ready in a few minutes, why don't you wash up?"

He nodded and started towards the bathroom. Rex followed him. "Come on dude, I'll clean you up too." House swooped him up and checked him out on the way to the bathroom. "Looks like you're doing just fine these days."

They all sat down to eat Chicken Korma. House had a beer and Maddie had a small glass of Grey Goose. It felt all too familiar to them. House and Maddie trading stories about their week.

"He essentially started eating anything that moved when he got home. I have to get to a grocery store soon or he'll be eating me." Maddie smiled.

"No dear, I'm the only one that eats you."

She shook her head and smiled, "Not anymore."

House wiggled his eyebrows. Rex tried to wiggle his. They all laughed.

"I have some Netflix™ that came in today. Do you want to stay and watch one?"

"What do you have?" he asked.

"_Airplane_ and _When Harry Met Sally_."

House raised an eyebrow and scowled, "What were you thinking?"

"Hey, I hadn't seen them in a long time."

"Let's go with _Airplane_."

Maddie put it on while House poured them both a Grey Goose. House put Rex in bed and turned out the light. Rex made some noises and so he went back in. Rex was sitting up in his bed. House turned on his bed side light and handed him some books. "I'll come back and check on you."

She put the DVD on and about half way through, when they were both laughing about the sh!t hitting the fan he turned to her, "I had forgotten how funny this was. Pause it so that I can go back and see how T. is." He went back and found Rex asleep with a book on his head. He turned out the light. When he returned he plopped down next to Maddie on the couch and they both put their feet up on the coffee table, drinking their Grey Goose.

Maddie slowed down her drinking because she was starting to feel tipsy. House picked up speed because he wanted courage. He wanted Maddie. They watched the movie.

Maddie got up and started towards the kitchen, "Do you want anything from the kitchen? I have some Barbeque Potato Chips?"

He pulled on her arm and she fell in his lap, "Maddie. I want you." He pulled her closer to his chest with his arms.

She started shaking in his arms. She looked down, her eyes filled with fear and sadness, "Greg, please. Please don't hurt me. Don't do this."

He could see she was afraid of him, not physically, but emotionally. "Oh Maddie, I don't want you to be afraid of me." He turned her chin and looked in her eyes. He saw tears start to well up. His voice went soft, "I wake up sometimes and I feel the bed next to me to see if you're there." He looked at her and could still feel her shaking. He let her up, "I'm sorry Maddie. I'm really sorry. It was foolish of me to think we could try again." He grabbed his cane and got up. "I'll get going."

Maddie could say nothing. She just stood still. House grabbed his jacket and hat and started for the front door. He turned and saw her still standing stiff next to the couch, "Maddie, are you okay? I promise, I won't bother you again. When I come to see Rex, I won't try that again. Okay?"

Maddie finally looked at him and nodded. She slowly approached him, "Greg, I'm barely making it through the day, hanging on by a thread. Each day I put one foot in front of the other. When I'm not at work, I stay safe here with Rex. I don't let anything or anyone in and I don't go anywhere with anyone where I might get hurt or have to feel." Maddie looked straight into his eyes, "Greg, before you go, I need to ask you something. My contract runs out at the end of the summer. I've been offered a National Geographic dig in South Africa and a job in Argentina, away from everything here. I think I should take one of them. It might help for me to get away, a lot has happened in the last two years. I feel raw, fragile. I wanted to ask if you would take Rex for a few months while I get settled and then I would fly back, get him and take him back to South Africa or Argentina. I promise to send him home three months out of each year to stay with you and you could come and see him anytime." She could see he was concentrating on what she had to say, "I know that you were dead set against it, but I really beg you to reconsider. I need to get back to the field, away from here, kind of my rehab, let me get my emotional armor back." Maddie stood in front of him, her emotions raw, tears streaming, begging him for her life back.

_She always asks me questions and expects immediate answers. If she goes to Africa, I really do lose her, lose Rex, lose my family. I'll have failed at the most important thing. But if I say no, I take away the one thing that might make her happy again._

"Maddie, if you need to go to Africa, then we'll make it work. I don't want to be the person who keeps you from being happy. I know you don't believe me, as stupid as I've been, but I love you. I love you and Rex and from now on my first priority is making sure the two of you are safe and happy. Goodnight Maddie." He turned and walked out the door.

**CHAPTER 49**

**JUST GOOD FRIENDS AND OTHER FAIRY TALES**

House had stuck by his word. When he picked Rex up or brought him back, he always made his visits short, sometimes not even coming inside. Maddie appreciated his kindness and his sensitivity to her emotions. In mid July he showed up with Rex and Maddie met him at the door.

"Greg, you better come in."

He came inside and looked around, "What's up?"

"The Attorney has been trying to contact you today. They're ready to put Chu-chu up for bid. They just want our approval that the site has been completely excavated and we're satisfied that the T.Rex is as complete as it's going to get. The University of Montana sent me the previews of the galleys for the Sotheby brochure." Maddie handed him the glossy photos of the scull, the vertebrae, the tail, the furicula and the tibias. She smiled at him and kind of jumped up and down, "They're starting the bidding at 4.0 million."

His mouth fell open, "Starting?"

She giggled and nodded.

"Great, that's just great."

At the end of July, Maddie and House flew to New York for the auction. Maddie had left Rex with Tracey who had agreed to watch Rex for the weekend. They were seated in a large room with four banks of telephones and sixty faux Louis XIV chairs. The room had two large crystal chandeliers, gold brocade on the walls and at least thirty academic looking bidders and tons of journalists milling about.

House and Maddie waited and finally it was announced by a dapper British gentleman, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Sothebys is proud to announce the auction of Chu-chu, one of only five Tyrannosaurus Rex specimens that are over 65 in tact and one of only two with an intact furicula. You all know the rules, we have twenty-nine bidders who have registered, twenty in the audience, nine on the phone. At the specific request and negotiations of the owners of Chu-chu, the winning bid will go to one of the U.S. Institutes that place a bid within the top twenty percent of the final bid. The final approval of the winning bid will be made by the finders of Chu-chu, Drs. Gregory House and Maddie Doyle. Ladies and Gentlemen, let us begin."

Bidding began promptly at 10:15 am. Within 30 seconds, bidding had exceeded expectations with nine bidders finally battling for ownership of "Chu-chu." The bidding lasted only eight minutes before the the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, the Carnegie Collection, a private collector who had agreed to donate Chu-chu to a private U.S. museum, the Museum of Natural History and the Dallas Museum of Natural History made the final top bids. The Dallas Museum of Natural History ultimately outbid the four other museums and at least one private collector who planned to donate "Chu-chu" to a museum. The private collector may have been Rapid City, South Dakota businessman and philanthropist Dr. Stanford M. Adelstein. It was believed that Adlestein planned to give "Chu-chu" to the private museum run by the non-profit organization started by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, the discoverers of "Sue" who lost the fossil in court battles over its ownership.

When the gavel came down, House and Maddie looked at each other with massive grins. Maddie's hands were shaking. Maddie leaned over and gave House a kiss on the cheek and a hug around the neck. They were asked to join the auction team at the front of the room. They were told the information regarding the final bidders so that they could make their deicision.Maddie and House were informed that the Academy, with its bid of $8,499,000 for a total of $9.4 million dollars including tax and auction fees, had placed the second highest bid and it was well within the twenty percent of the top bid. House and Maddie informed the auctioneer that Chu-chu would go to the Academy in Philadelphia.

The agents noted that , after all the money was paid out to the various agents, attorneys and service people, Maddie and House would each receive approximately $1.80 million dollars. Backers of the purchase included Mattel, McDonald's, Disneyland and the California State University system. Disney was to receive a replica of "Chu-chu" to exhibit in its Animal Kingdom exhibit at Disneyland. McDonald's and Ronald McDonald House supplied money for purchase of "Chu-chu," plus money to build, a public, glassed-in facility at the Academy to be called McDonald's Fossil Preparatory Laboratory, where the work of cleaning and preparing "Chu-chu" could be observed on a day-to-day basis. McDonald's would also receive two replicas of "Chu-chu" which would tour the US and the world as part of the company's newest promotional campaign. The California State University system's financial support purchased access to "Chu-chu" for some California-based dinosaur scientists. The Academy planned to have the completed and mounted specimen on public display within three years.

There were hundreds of photos snapped of Maddie and House which eventually made the evening news. Maddie and House were whisked out to another reception room with champagne and strawberries. House grabbed a plump juicy one and dangled it in front of Maddie's mouth, she turned and giggled, opened her mouth and he fed it to her. There was a photo taken of the moment.

Simon walked into the room with several other board members from the Academy. He walked up to House and stuck out his hand. House snickered and shook it.

"Thank you Greg for honoring your commitment." Simon turned to Maddie and said, "The Board of Directors...and me...would like to renew your contract to make you the Director of the new Fossil Prepatory Lab and Paleontology Department." He smiled warmly at her.

Maddie looked at House who smiled too. At first Maddie said nothing. She was obviously thinking it through. Finally, she looked up, "Simon, the lab won't be built for at least a year. Would you and the Board be willing to let me have a year sabbatical?"

Simon turned around to the Board members who nodded furiously. "Yes Maddie, you can take a sabbatical. What do you plan to do?"

"I want to do some field work, get my hands dirty again."

"We'd like to take you both to dinner," Simon announced.

Maddie looked at House, "I think we'd just like some time alone to talk about all of this. It's a little overwhelming and exciting. Maybe when we get back to Philadelphia. Okay?" They accepted the rain check.

Maddie and House left the reception and House moaned a little, "I'm ready for some real food."

"Me too. Do you know any places in New York?"

"Let's go to the Tribecca Grill...you know, Diniro's restaurant."

"Great." She smiled and put her hand in his as they went out to where the Sotheby limo was parked and waiting for them. They continued to drink champagne in the back and by the time Maddie arrived at the Tribecca Grill, she was giggling about everything, including the maitre 'd's french accent. House found her giddiness amusing. She looked very posh in her dress, which he suspected had cost her part of the savings she had so meticulously put away each month.

"Maddie, I didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to think I wanted to jump you, which I do," (Maddie giggled) "but you look absolutely stunning in your new dress."

"Really? Do I? Thank you! I never know if what I buy is a hit or a miss. This woman helped me at Bloomingdale's."

The waiter came over and House recognized his accent as Italian. He spoke to the waiter in Italian and ordered another bottle of Champagne. "Maddie, would you like a salad?"

"Yes, I would Gregory." There was more giggling. "I love it when you speak Italian. It's my favorite language."

"Then I will always speak Italian to you." He told her in Italian that he loved her and wished she would forgive him, screw his brains out and then give him head.

She giggled and said, "That sounds so romantic."

They ate dinner and afterwards went back to the hotel. House didn't want the evening to end. He grabbed Maddie's hand and pulled it gently towards the bar, "Maddie, what about a drink at the bar?"

She squeezed his hand, "Let's have one up in my room. Order us champagne."

House wanted to do a little celebration dance, but instead he nodded gently and on their way to the elevator told the concierge who agreed to order it. He did a little victory hop behind Maddie as they got into the elevator. When they got up to her room she turned on the light and kicked off her shoes.

"Those damn shoes hurt." She climbed backwards onto the bed and said, in Italian, "I'm not forgiving you, but tonight I feel like screwing your brains out and giving you head, deal?"

"You speak Italian?"

"I needed to speak Italian because when I was at Berkeley I spent six months in Italy on an exchange program with the Museum of Palenontology, Institute of Technology in Rome." She laughed lightly. "Now, you better take advantage of me before I sober up."

House felt a little too excited. Her legs were uncovered up to where the hem of her skirt just grazed her thigh. As he stood there looking at her shapely legs, he remembered the feel of them, the firm calf and the soft, warm portion of her inner thigh. He took off his jacket, tie and shirt.

"Are you just going to lay there like that?" He asked.

"Maybe, maybe you need to get busy. I'm feeling lazy, you're going to have to undress me."

He chuckled and continued to undo his shoes and socks. He stood at the bottom of the bed and began to fidget with his belt when Maddie sat up on her knees and undid it for him. She looked up at his eyes and his smile as she unbuttoned the pants. She looked down and already saw a bulge in his pants. She stopped and gently slid her hand up and down against the bulge.

"_No...don't. _I'm just hanging on here. Slow down Bessie..." He put his hand lightly on her hand to stop the stroking. She looked up and giggled. He shook his head, "You minx."

He undid his trousers and pulled them off. She laid back down. House put his hands around her ankles and then slowly slid them up her shins, over her knees and then to the soft thighs he remembered so well. He reached up and pulled her panties down and off. The dress was a soft shirt dress with buttons down the front. House laid down next to her and undid the first three buttons, pulling back the dress to reveal her bra. He rubbed his hands over the top of her breasts and then bent down to softly kiss them before continuing to unbutton the dress all the way down. Maddie slipped the sleeves off and watched as House kissed her abdomen and then nuzzled her pubic hair. She opened her legs slightly for him. This small act of accommodation was like a spark that caused his excitement to become too much.

He gasped, "Maddie, I'm not going to make it."

She opened her legs further and he jumped between her legs pushing into her and then moaning loudly as his face scrunched up, "Jesus Christ... oh...oh... damn... damn" She laughed as he alternated between orgasmic pleasure and disappointment in his lack of control.

When he was done, he looked away, unable to look at Maddie. He pulled out and laid back. Maddie started giggling, "Thank you."

"Not funny."

"No, I'm not being funny. It's rather flattering that at forty you find me that exciting that you... well you can't control yourself. It's really good for my ego, which has taken a pretty big bruising in the last few years."

He still grimaced and put his arm over his forehead.

"Do you have someplace to go in the next few hours?" she asked.

"No. Why?"

"Because, who cares about this when we have all night to practice?"

He looked over and chuckled. She removed her bra and the dress and turned over and rested her body on his chest and leg. "Maddie, you don't look a day over 39."

She pinched his nipple...hard.

"Owww. Okay, 38?"

More twisting.

"Maddie, I really do love you."

She jerked herself over to the other side of the king sized bed. She clenched her teeth and looked into space shaking her head. There was silence. She looked at him with contempt, "Tonight will only work if it's about sex and only sex. If you need something more than that then please leave."

"Are you sober already?"

"I'm getting there." Just as she said it there was a knock on the door. Maddie jumped up and grabbed the robe out of the closet. She opened the door and took the bottle of champagne in ice and glasses from the server, she grabbed her purse, took out a few dollars and handed it to the server. She handed the bottle to House as he sat up, moping. He popped the cork and Maddie held the glasses as House poured.

He gave her a phoney smile of contrition, "Just sex...only sex."

"Okay. Behave, be a good boy and just talk dirty to me. No romance." They toasted and she sipped the champagne.

He swigged it down, "You got it. Take off the robe and let me look at your t!ts."

She handed him the champagne and took off her robe. He smiled, put the glasses down and then reached out and pinched her nipple softly. Then he took his fingers and encircled her nipple slowly. He pulled her close and lowered her back down onto the bed. He leaned over and flicked her nipples with his tongue and with his hand massaged her right breast. She reached down and stroked his hair. House moved his hand and felt between her legs. She grabbed his head and french kissed him while he rubbed her clitoris until he felt her response. He could feel the tightening of her thighs and abdomen. She concentrated on the smooth, constant pressure of his fingers against her clitoris and opening. She felt the tingling start and stop, each time building to a crescendo. He started to slip his fingers inside, still rubbing against her clitoris. She grabbed onto him around his neck and turned her pelvis towards his hand to give her clitoris maximum exposure to his fast moving fingers. She started to scream as the flush went through her body and her toes curled under. She couldn't see anything, she just felt the orgasm push up from her clitoris to her stomach and then out her head. He smiled and waited until she finally pushed his hand away. There was a slight pause and then he mounted her, easily, slowly moving in and out of her wet muscles while he looked into her eyes.

He must have looked too longingly because she turned her head. "Don't look at me like that. Look at me like you look at your hookers."

"I don't look at them, not at their eyes at least."

She turned her head back to look at him and snapped, "Then don't look at me. Just screw me."

"I thought we made love?"

She shook her head and had to pinch her lips to keep from tearing up, "Not anymore."

He looked away and continued his slow screwing, trying not to think of his emotions, just of the way he felt inside her. It started to work. He felt her muscles entrap him, pull him, increase the friction he was feeling. He started thrusting faster and faster until he couldn't contain the orgasm. He released himself several times. He wanted to stay in her -- not pull out. He didn't want to disconnect from her, but she squirmed away from him and he ended up on one side of the bed and her on the other.

She turned back to him, "I thought we could do this, but we can't, can we?"

He said nothing.

"The alcohol...I thought it could numb me, not make me feel, but it's not working. Can you leave...please?"

House felt his chance slipping away. "It doesn't work for a reason you moron. It's because we do make love. What we feel is that endomorphined drenched panacea called love. Damn it Maddie, I was an ss and a fool." He waited to see if she was listening. She said nothing, but her face had relaxed; it was no longer angry. "I think...no, _I know_, that I'm ready to let you in. I'm not saying that I'm an open book, but I am willing to work on it. I'm willing to go to counseling. I'm willing to take Prozac. Hell, I'm willing to take Sodium Pentothal on a nightly basis." House saw Maddie crack a faint smile, giving him the courage he needed to continue. "Maddie, I want us to be together. Please, I want to be a full time father, your husband, I want to marry you. Don't make me leave. I don't think we'll ever have an opportunity again to get back together;you're so hell bent to get away from me. Don't. Give me one more chance."

Maddie sighed heavily. She closed her eyes and said nothing for several minutes. She was thinking. She finally opened her eyes and looked at him, "I know you want an answer, but this is not what I expected tonight. I didn't expect a proposal of marriage. Greg, I wish I had an answer, but you really broke my heart, my spirit."

House was frustrated, "Oh boo hoo Maddie. Do you think we don't all have our hearts broken at one time or another? Why do you think I pushed you away. The best defense is a good offence. It was a preemptive strike— get you before you sent me packing. Maddie, I look at Rex and you and I kick myself every day for what I did. Marry me?"

"Greg, please leave."

House's face fell and he could physically feel his heart grow heavy and his whole body ache. "Maddie?"

"I just need time to think, figure out what I'm going to do, where I'm going to go, what offers I'm going to take and I can't do that with you laying naked in my bed." She looked at him and gave him a weak but encouraging smile.

House got up and dressed. He reached down and kissed her. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I love you. He left and went back to his room.

(Okie Dokie folks --two more chapters...I'll have the ending up by tomorrow! Thanks again)


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 50**

**JUST DO IT!**

James Wilson listened and I babbled. He had driven up to Philly to consult on a case and had accepted my invitation to spend the night as my guest. The conversation had drifted, as always, to my relationship with House and what had happened the week before in New York.

"I knew he'd probably panic when he found out that instead of spending the night, I took the late train back to Philadelphia. But I didn't want to see his face the next morning, the expectation, the worry, the need for an answer." I said in response to a question from Jim.

"Didn't you believe him?"

"Did I buy his story? Yes and no. _He's House!_" We both chuckled. "I love him because he is so irascible, acerbic and unpredictable. I can't get past the fact that he never did tell me about Stacey and why they had been talking — or whatever they were doing. In one breath he was telling me that he wanted to be open and honest with me, yet he still failed to open up and say why Stacey was on fast dial."

"But he really seems to have come to his senses." Jim was looking at the wine in his glass as he sat on my jam stained Chenille couch.

"I want to trust him. I want to go back to those nine months of happiness we had being a family. It was a strange weekend family, but a relatively happy one. But after Montana, I realized it had all been a facade. I thought he was being honest with me, but he wasn't. He was holding back so much the entire time we were together.

"Maddie, are you saying that you can't give him a second chance, that you don't love him?"

"New York convinced me that I will never be over Greg House. Not just because he is the father of my children, but because he makes me feel beautiful, loved and he makes me laugh – most of the time." I drank my Baileys and thought for a minute, "Jim, it sounds stupid, but I ache for him. I don't say that metaphorically, I truly mean that my whole body, my whole being, aches for him. But when I think about the months when he pulled away and hired the lawyer to go after me, my stomach turns and I started to get clammy, lightheaded and nervous. You see? It's so damn hard to know what I should feel or how I feel."

"I think he's really ready to commit Maddie. He's more miserable now than when Stacey left him. He doesn't even hire hookers anymore."

I chuckled at that, "I admit that asking me to marry him was a big step in the right direction. It might mean that he's ready to commit. But, I keep worrying and asking myself if this is just one of his ploys? He's the kind of man that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants and then when he has it, he'll sabotage it or get bored with it." I started to tear up, "I told you. Even now I can't figure it out. I hate myself for not being able to make up my mind. But Jim, if I trust him, if I say yes, and he screws me over, there won't be anything left of me to pick up and put back together."

"Maddie, life with him is never going to be easy. But when he was with Stacey he treated her well, at least until the leg. It wasn't perfect and they sometimes looked like they were in trouble, but then he would come to his senses and things would settle down."

"Jim...what should I do?"

"I don't know what to say to you. You have to make the decision yourself. I can only tell you that he's miserable without you and he loves his son with a love I never though he was capable of feeling."

"I've never doubted his love for Rex or for Chu-chu. My sabbatical starts at the end of the month. I have to make a decision on what to do for the next year."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been given opportunities to go to Argentina, Thailand and South Africa to assist in field work. If I don't do that, at least with Chu-chu being sold I'll have enough money to just take it easy or travel. I think that if I go away for the year, then maybe I'll have the energy and strength to make a decision about Greg, even if I were to go back to him and things go south. But, I won't ask him to wait for me. It wouldn't be fair."

"I hope you don't go. He'll miss you and he'll be miserable without Rex. You should see the difference being a father has made. He's still a jerk to his patients, but when he treats children, he's definitely more sensitive to the kid and, surprisingly, even a little more sensitive to the parents." Wilson shifted and crossed his legs as he leaned back in the couch, "He'll never be a Dr. Kildare, but it's been a steady shift over the last two years. He can be human sometimes when you least expect it."

I had to laugh. Wilson sounded so surprised at the fact that House could be human. "I know he can be sweet. I certainly wouldn't be sitting here talking about him if he was always a jerk. I'm not really a masochist." I pulled my legs up under my butt as I sat in the easy chair. "Did he ever tell you what he was doing with Stacey?"

Wilson chuckled, "Stacey told me. House wanted to know what had gone wrong with them; if she thought he was capable of love and commitment. She had her own questions for him about their relationship. They bascially spent the time getting closure where there had been none. She told me one thing...she was jealous of you. She thinks you have essentially knocked her out of the ballpark. He isn't obsessed with her now...he's obsessed with you."

"I wish I could believe that. But why couldn't he tell me about Stacey?"

"Because he was telling her things about you and your relationship that you probably wouldn't want your lover's ex to know. But he was doing it to work through his anxiety over being in love again. He wasn't doing it to encourage any feelings from Stacey. She was clear that he wasn't trying to get back with her. But he does trust her enough to ask the emotional questions he wouldn't ask anyone else, except maybe you."

We eventually said good night and I spent a rather restless night once again trying to figure out what I should do. It sounds crazy, but sometimes when I feel anxious, the only way that I can sleep is to grab my son and put him in bed next to me so that I can hear his little sounds. I used to do the same with Chu-chu. Wilson was sleeping on the futon that was in Rex's room. Rex was in his portable crib in my room. I reached in, grabbed the sleeping toddler and put him next to me. I lay there in the night light just staring at his profile. He was so angelic in his little cowboy pajamas and long eyelashes. He was gorgeous. I kissed his forehead and laid my head back on the pillow. I fell asleep within minutes.

Jim went back to Princeton and I was left with my dilemma. It was Friday and after work I would be facing House for the first time since I bailed from New York. I didn't know what to expect. He had left a voicemail that he would be late because they were just waiting to see if a treatment was going to work for one of Foreman's patients. It had become plain to everyone, including Cuddy, that Foreman didn't really lead a whole separate diagnostics team. It was more like he headed up a subset of House's department.The doorbell rang at 6:00 pm.

I opened the door and there stood House. He didn't look angry or nervous or worried. He walked right by me and into the living room. I closed the door and turned to speak, but he stopped me.

"You don't have to tell me anything. Wilson can't keep his mouth shut once I turn on the juice. I'm going to ignore all the crap about my infringements and peccadillos and concentrate on what is the one truth we both know. We love each other and our son." He stopped and looked around for Rex, finally spying the hiding monster behind the easy chair, "That's why I've asked for a year off from work. I plan to follow you wherever you go, do whatever you do, stick by you so that every time you turn around you see this face and know that I love you."

"You're joking. Cuddy would never let you take a year off."

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "What can she do about it? I have enough money now to tell her to shove the job, but now that she has two diagnostic teams, one headed by a lackluster moron, she needs me. I told her that I would be available by phone or email and she has given me an enthusiastic thumbs up." He emphasized this with a big grin and two thumbs pointing in the air.

I highly doubted Cuddy was enthusiastic about this but I was sure he had brow-beated her into some concession. "Greg, wanting to go do field work was my way of getting _away from you _and doing some healing."

"You start healing without me and you're going to have these big ss keloid scars. If we do it together, then whenever the scar starts to get bumpy or raised, I can help you smooth it out."

I shook my head, "I'm begging you to let me go and do this on my own. I need the time off...from everything, including you. I think I'm going to go to Argentina and work with the government on scouting out dig sites down there. I need for you to take care of Rex for a month while I get established and then I'll come back and get him. Please? I was counting on you to keep him."

He started to melt when he saw how genuine I was in my desire for him to keep Rex for the month and for me to get away from him. He plopped himself into the easy chair. "Is this really what you want? Time away from us?"

"Well, really I want time away from you, but not having to worry about Rex that first month will go a long way to helping me make my mind up. Let me figure out whether or not I can handle a life with you and your peccadillos. Greg, you told me that making us happy and safe were your first priorities. If that's true, then let me go do this on my own. "

"Everybody lies." He snickered. Then he dropped his shoulders and his mouth turned down at the corners. When his eyes looked at mine it was with a saddness that would break anyone's heart, "But I didn't lie, if this will make you happy Maddie, then go to Argentina and work it out."

I walked over and hugged him in gratitude. He hugged me just a little too hard back, but I didn't mind. Rex ran over and joined the huddle and we picked him up and hugged him too.

And that's what I decided to do. I spent the next few weeks packing up my furniture and storing it. We rearranged House's bedroom so that the bed was against the wall and Rex could sleep with House the month that he was with him. We also rearranged other areas in the bachelor pad so that Rex had room to play. We were done with all the moving around and were taking a break in his living room.

"I'm going to introduce him to a little keyboard while you're gone."

"I plan to come back in a month to six weeks to get him. I expect him to be playing Carnegie Hall by then. Okay?"

"How about 'out in the hall?'" He sat down with a beer, "I signed the stipulation prepared by the attorney and the court has it. I know that the judge will give you permission to take Rex if I say it's okay, so don't worry. I won't follow you and I won't hassle you while you're down there."

"Maybe you could come and spend Christmas with us?" I suggested.

"I'm not good at Christmas."

"That's okay, because I am."

I spent the night in Greg's bed before I left the next day for Argentina. He didn't try anything, he let me take the lead. I just held him and slept wrapped around him like I used to. Rex slept next to me. We were one big happy family in a queen sized bed.

I sobbed all the way to the airport. I had never been away from Rex for more than a couple of nights and it finally hit me what I was doing.

"How can I do this?" (Sob, sob.)

Rex started crying because I was crying.

"Oh for Chris' sake Maddie, it's just 4-6 weeks. It's not like he's going to learn how to drive a car and nail his first girl while you're gone." He turned to Rex, "Dude, don't cry. It's going to be boys night out for thirty days. We're going to party. Put a lid on it."

I curtailed my sobbing so that I could turn in my seat, reach back and tickle him. He stopped crying and Greg sighed with relief. House turned and looked at me. I took one look at House's big beautiful blue eyes and my lip started quivering.

"Oh no, no, no. Stop or you'll get him started again."

"What am I doing? I can't leave him? What will he do without me?"

"Do I look like chopped liver? Maddie, I can take care of my son. You just concentrate on coming to your senses and marrying me."

I was hyperventilating. I felt like a horrible mother, leaving my twenty-two month old son for a month. But then I realized that this would be a great opportunity for House to find out if he really had it in him to be a full-time Dad. This was the best thing for all of us. I took some deep breaths and nodded that I was okay.

When I had to leave them at security, I put on a bright smile for Rex. I kissed him and blew tummy farts and made him laugh. I grabbed House and the three of us locked in a big hug. I turned my head and gave Greg a kiss, a deep passionate kiss and then I kissed my son and got in line for the security check. House turned to leave and as they went out the airport doors they turned and waved one more time. I had to blow forcibly out of my mouth to keep from doing something stupid like crying or fainting. I was on my way.

**CHAPTER 51**

**MADDIE DOYLE'S GREAT ADVENTURE**

Gregory House was tired. For the last three weeks he had been tired. He had a new found respect for Maddie. He couldn't understand how she did it, the cleaning, the bathing, the feeding, the entertaining, and that was just taking care of himself...he had to do the same for Rex too. House loved his son and there were a lot of Kodak moments, but whew! He was relieved when he left his son at daycare in the morning. It allowed him a cup of coffee and the newspaper to himself.

On the third weekend House was overwhelmed. When Wilson offered to take Rex to the park and play with him House almost fell to his knees in gratitude. Wilson took Rex to the park with the big playground five blocks away. Afterwards, Wilson fed Rex and let him nap in the stroller while he talked to a single Mom who was watching her little girl play on the swing set. She was so impressed that Wilson was giving respite to a friend that she was delighted when Wilson asked for her phone number.

Wilson and Rex returned four hours later to find a napping House. Wilson cleaned Rex up and then ordered Chinese. When the doorbell rang, House woke up and answered it. He could hear Rex squealing from the kitchen so he knew they were home. He opened the door and saw a young delivery boy with four pails of food. House paid for the Chinese dinner and took it inside.

As they ate Wilson looked worried. House couldn't take the drama, "Alright, I'll bite, why the frantic look of doom?"

"This is all too much for you isn't it? Being a full time Dad is hard. You're having second thoughts aren't you?" Wilson asked with trepidation.

House chuckled, "I'm tired; I'm sick of being sticky all the time; I hate that Dora video; I'm going to kill the guy who plays that stupid green thing on television; and the smells that come out of my son's bowels could gag a maggot; but, has this changed my mind? Yeah, it has. It made me realize just how much I was missing by just being there on the weekends. He grows in leaps and bounds every day. His vocabulary is expanding rapidly and his dexterity is getting much better. I'm desperately tired. I don't know how Maddie does it. I want help, lots of it. But if Maddie were here to help, I wouldn't trade this for all the Coltrane albums in the world."

Wilson put his hand over his mouth and just nodded. He was truly stunned and moved by the minor miracle that Rex had performed. Rex squealed, "Pano! Pano!" Wilson raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Rex was saying.

"Piano, he wants to play the piano." House told Wilson who still looked confused, "Okay, so the kid has to work on pronunciation, but still, he's pretty damn smart." House smiled. He grabbed the children's keyboard and let Rex pound away while Wilson and House put their hands over their ears.

House yelled out, "Sounds like Copeland, huh?"

"Yeah, in about another ten years."

When Rex stopped banging they heard something drop in the living room. House and Wilson got up and went out to see what it was that had fallen. Standing in the middle of the living room was a very tired woman, with two bags that had obviously been dropped as she came in. She started taking off her shoes and simply smiled and said, "Hi honey, _I'm home_."

**Epilogue**

I didn't last long in Argentina. From the moment I arrived, it became clear that the government's promises for funding fell very short, making it impossible to actually fund digs. I did manage to get one field project going in my three week term. I came home rather abruptly because it was either me stay and drain the funds with my salary or fund a dig properly and I leave. I chose to fund the dig and make myself redundant..

Besides, when they walked out the door at the airport, I realized my whole world had gone with them. I tried to stop thinking about Rex and House, but everything reminded me of them, everything. I finally came home after only three weeks. House was absolutely shocked to see me. I could have tipped him over on his back if I had wanted. He finally recovered and grabbed me so hard it hurt and I had to tell him I was only 115 lbs. and not built for this abuse.

My son was happy to see me but after a brief acknowledgment that I was home, he went back to pounding on the "God-Awful-Keyboard that became the bane of my existence for the next six months until House could start working with him properly on the piano.

We jackhammered House out of his apartment and we bought another house two blocks from our old one. It was just as nice, maybe even nicer, but all the bedrooms were upstairs. House insisted that he wanted to start getting more exercise on his leg anyway and this would just force him to do it.

It took me another two years before I would marry him. I was the one who kept vacillating. He just kept saying that he'd marry me whenever I made up my mind. When we were married, we simply grabbed Wilson one weekend and flew up to Jordan, Montana. Jade had arranged for us to be married in the Jordan cemetery. I know it sounds really odd, but I wanted Chu-chu to be there. We were married next to her grave with Rex hanging onto his father's leg. We had a huge blow out at the bar and I spent our first night of wedding bliss puking my guts out from too much Tequila. House wondered outloud if the first night of a marriage was like the first day of the New Year for the Japanese, that I would be puking for the rest of our days together.

The whole town seemed to be there celebrating with us. It was great to see everyone and they were all happy to know that Chu-chu had gotten her way, Greg and I were together.

Before you get all teary eyed and smile wistfully, you should know it isn't a bed of roses living with Greg House and it hasn't been all smooth sailing. He's mercurial, mean and he can bite your head off if he thinks you're being irrational or stupid. But he manages to curb his tongue (usually) when it comes to his son. I think he is trying his best not to make the same mistakes that John made with him. He spends a lot of time with Rex on the weekends although I try to give him an afternoon off to recharge his batteries. Rex and I will go out together to a movie or play-date. Greg gets to be the broody Greg he can so frequently be.

Speaking of John and Blythe, we visit them once a year so that they can see Rex (and Greg.) They come out occasionally, but Blythe's knee is giving her trouble and it's harder for her to travel. There's an unacknowledged truce between John and Greg. They even take Rex places together when we visit. They took him to the Aerospace Museum in San Diego and they toured the Midway together. Greg once grudgingly admitted that his Dad makes a much better grandfather than father. There is no denying that Rex loves his grandparents and is spoiled rotten by them. What six year old do you know has a laptop? Greg also has acknowledged just the other day that being a Dad is much harder than he thought, especially when our very mischievous son does something creative like paint his father's toenails red when he's asleep.

After I returned from Argentina, I helped design the new laboratory. I spent the first year in the new lab putting Chu-chu together and now we are working on other specimens that have been donated to us because of my reputation in the field (hard earned.) Chu-chu is beautiful, just like the real Chu-chu. She reigns over the Paleontology Department like a queen. People come from all over the world to see her grandeur and admire her fierceness. Sometimes when I touch her wishbone I think of my daughter, smiling and playing practical jokes. I wonder what she would look like now? She'd be a teenager, long legged, brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, her father's gift for music and wit, her mother's ears and nose. I suspect she'd be boy crazy or the boys would be crazy for her. I also suspect we'd be fighting over makeup, boys, dating and other teenage things. I still ache for her right in my heart, especially on Mother's Day and her birthday. I watch her brother play and realize I know nothing about boys and wonder what Chu-chu would have made of him. I suspect she would have tortured him into submission. He tends to be much more easy going than his sister, although just as, if not more, mischievous.

Yes, I think of the road of life that she and I traveled from Jordan to Princeton and back. I don't know whether to thank her or curse her for dragging me down this road. It's been an adventure, the great adventure of Maddie Doyle thanks to Chu-chu, the daughter incarnate of Gregory House. The adventure and the road ahead haven't been and won't be easy. But I can sure bet that it won't be boring. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far.

The End.

**THANKS to everyone who has gone on this journey. I hope you enjoyed it. I try to give you more than just a story about House. I like to throw us all into a world we know little about...Paleontology, Physics, Psychics, (seems to be P's), Africa, the Navy etc. I like to learn about new fields...hope you do too. If you can, please leave me a note letting me know what you like in this one and what you would like to see in the future. Thanks so much for reading. **


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